"It wasn't the nicest thing.." KL Rahul breaks silence on exchange with LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka during IPL 2024

KL Rahul has been released by LSG ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.

KL Rahul has finally opened up about being confronted publically by Sanjiv Goenka, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner, following their loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season.

Rahul and LSG have parted ways ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction after three years of association in which Rahul led the franchise to the playoffs twice.

Both parties have made statements following their partition. While Goenka took a dig at Rahul, saying that he wanted to keep “players who have a mindset to win” and those who “put the team before their personal goals and aspirations,” the cricketer has remained more tactful, saying that he is looking for a franchise where he has more “freedom” and a “much more balanced” environment.

It could be considered that the seed of the animosity between Rahul and Goenka was sown when the LSG owner confronted the then-captain in front of everyone at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad after LSG lost by 10 wickets to SRH.

LSG had posted a total of 165 with Rahul scoring 29 runs off 33 balls. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma blasted 167 runs in only 9.4 overs to hand LSG perhaps their demoralizing defeat in three seasons.

Following the loss, Goenka was seen animatedly confronting Rahul while the LSG skipper mostly kept quiet and listened.

It did affect the entire group: KL Rahul

Rahul has finally broken his silence regarding that chat that played out in the public’s eyes. The former LSG skipper reckoned that the exchange affected the other players as well and resulted in the team’s failures of not reaching the playoffs.

Rahul told Star Sports, “Whatever happened on the field after the game wasn’t the nicest thing to be part of or something that anyone wants to see on the cricket field. I think it did affect the entire group. We still had a chance to make it into the playoffs.

“We had a chat as a team and tried to regroup, put everything aside, and try to put our best foot forward. We tried our best, but unfortunately, our best wasn’t good enough always. It was a bummer that we couldn’t really make the playoffs or win the season as we had hoped.”

Rahul will be up for grabs in the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction.

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