The middle-order batter of the Indian side, KL Rahul, wasn’t part of the second Test in the three-match series against New Zealand in Pune on the back of his poor form in the last two three years in the longest format of the game. This has now extended to take the exit door for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
KL Rahul has been the captain of the franchise since IPL 2022. In the first two seasons, they reached the playoffs with some incredible performances before finishing in seventh place in the recent 2024 edition of the tournament. But, the way the batter played in the last two seasons of the event, the owners of the team haven’t been satisfied.
Across the three seasons, the Karnataka-born has been the leading run-getter of the side. In the 2022 season of the competition, he was the second-highest run-scorer with 616 runs before he missed the second half of the 2023 season with an injury.
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KL Rahul, once again, topped the chart as the highest run-getter for the Super Giants in 2024 with 520 runs, but even though the volume of the runs was so high, the strike rate of managing these runs, 136.12 in IPL 2024, wasn’t something that the team management was happy with.
KL Rahul likely to enter the mega auction of IPL 2025
This has led him to come under scrutiny because of how the league has evolved around the highest scoring rates. When they faced a crushing defeat against the Sunrisers Hyderabad away from home, the LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka was seen to be having a heated argument with their captain on the field.
The exchange of words, which was seen on television, later speculated around the future of KL Rahul in the side. But later, Goenka admitted that their discussion was only about the disappointment with the manner of the defeat against the Pat Cummins-led side.
When It comes to the overall IPL, the Bengaluru-boy has smashed 4683 runs in 123 innings at an average of 45.46 and a strike rate of 134.60, on the back of 37 half-centuries and four centuries at a best score of unbeaten 132 runs.
During the 2018 season of the tournament, leading the Punjab Kings, KL Rahul smashed 659 runs in 14 innings at an average of 54.91 and a strike rate of nearly 160, with the help of six half-centuries, before cracking 593 runs at a down strike rate of 135.38 in comparison.
In a recent event in Kolkata in August to announce the appointment of their new mentor in the form of the former left-arm pacer of India, Zaheer Khan, Goenka called Rahul ‘family’ besides not making any comment on the probable retention of the batter for the next cycle of the IPL.
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The reports claimed that during a meeting with the owners of the franchise, the wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul had not committed to accepting any retention offer, as the final decision is likely to be made in the next week.
The IPL Governing Council (GC) has revealed that each of the franchises will be given a chance to retain six of their players ahead of the mega auction via retention or the right-to-match card. The maximum of the five capped players will see two INR 18 crore and INR 14 crore deals and one INR 11 crore deal.
The deadline for the retention of the IPL 2025 league is October 31.
