All the teams have announced the names of their retained players for IPL 2025. Lucknow Super Giants have retained a total of 5 players before the mega auction. In this a total of 3 capped and 2 uncapped players were retained. The name of team captain KL Rahul is not included in this. That means franchise owner Sanjeev Goenka has decided to end his relationship with KL Rahul. Sanjeev Goenka gave a shocking statement about Rahul immediately after dropping him from the team’s squad. However, he did not take Rahul’s name in his statement.
Accusations against KL Rahul
KL Rahul captained Lucknow Super Giants for three seasons. During this period, Lucknow qualified for the playoffs twice. She stood at number 7 in the last season. Team owner Sanjeev Goenka decided to release him this time. After the official announcement of retention on October 31, he targeted KL Rahul without taking his name. Goenka said that he wanted to retain such players in his team, who had a winning mindset and who played for the team and not for their own interests. His statement has created a sensation. This is being considered as an insult to KL Rahul.
There was a rift between the two
In the last season of IPL, there was a fierce debate between team owner Sanjiv Goenka and KL Rahul after losing the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Goenka had reprimanded Rahul on the field itself. Although, later both were seen together, but this time the team owner and management were not in favor of retaining KL Rahul. On the other hand, reports also came out that Rahul himself had refused to be retained.
Who was retained, who was released?
Lucknow Super Giants have retained Nicholas Puran for Rs 21 crore, Ravi Bishnoi and Mayank Yadav for Rs 11 crore each. Apart from these, two uncapped players Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni have been retained, who have got Rs 4 crore each. Many big players like KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Naveen-ul-Haq have been released.
