Lucknow Super Giants faced heat for excluding KL Rahul from a post celebrating India’s Test series draw against England, despite his 532 runs in 10 innings. Fans slammed the franchise for the act, pointing out Rahul’s pivotal role in the series.
Lucknow Super Giants, owned by Sanjiv Goenka-led RPSG Group, has been facing heat on social media for failing to celebrate KL Rahul’s contribution in India’s recently concluded Test series against England.
Team India had concluded a 45-day Test tour of England with a memorable five-match series draw after pulling off a thrilling six-run win in the Oval Decider. Chasing a 374-run target, England were bundled out for 367, with Mohammed Siraj taking the final wicket of Gus Atkinson to seal the victory and level the series 2-2.
India’s senior-most batter on the England Test tour, KL Rahul, had played an instrumental role in the visitors’ fightback when India were 1-2 down in the series before the Oval decider. Though the right-handed batter might not have contributed significantly in the final Test, scoring 14 and 7 in both innings, his overall contribution was immense, amassing over 500 runs across the series.
LSG ignores KL Rahul’s contribution
As Indian cricket is yet to sink in the high of the hard-fought series draw, the Lucknow Super Giants, with whom KL Rahul had spent three seasons before he was released from the setup, shared a celebratory collage of players who contributed to India’s Test series draw in England.
Taking to their X handle (formerly Twitter), Lucknow Super Giants posted a collage of the moments from India’s Test tour, including Shubman Gill-Zak Crawley’s heated exchange at Lord’s, Akash Deep’s gritty fifty and Mohammed Siraj’s heroics at the Oval, Ravindra Jadeja’s century in the Manchester Test, and Rishabh Pant’s century celebration at Headingley and his brave walk out to bat despite fractured foot at Old Trafford
However, the Lucknow-based IPL franchise ignored KL Rahul, despite being one of India’s stand-out performers in the recently concluded Test series draw against England.
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KL Rahul was the second-highest run-getter for India in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 series, amassing 532 runs, including 2 centuries and as many fifties, at an average of 53.20 in 10 innings. For the first time in his Test career, Rahul amassed over 500 runs in a Test series.
Moreover, KL Rahul fell just 11 runs short of Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time Indian record of 542 runs in a Test series.
LSG hammered for ‘embarrassing act’
After Lucknow Super Giants put up a collage of India’s standout moments from the England tour without featuring KL Rahul on their X handle, fans were quite infuriated and angry at the franchise for ignoring their former captain despite his vital contribution in India’s Test series draw against England.
Taking to their X handles, the fans slammed Sajiv Goenka-led LSG for what they described as ‘disgusting act’ and ‘intentional’, with many calling the act petty and unbecoming of a professional franchise.
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KL Rahul was part of Lucknow Super Giants for three seasons from 2022 to 2024 and led the team to two successive playoffs in 2022 and 2023. At the time of his release from the franchise, Rahul was the leading run-getter (still is) for the team, amassing 1410 runs, including 2 centuries and 10 fifties, at an average of 41.47 in 38 matches.
After being released by LSG, KL Rahul joined the Delhi Capitals for IPL 2025. KL Rahul and LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka met after Delhi Capitals’ victory, but the encounter was notably awkward, as the Karnataka batter cold-shouldered Goenka and his son, who tried to congratulate him.