According to TOI, Lucknow Super Giants are likely to release KL Rahul and retain Mayank Yadav ahead of the IPL mega auction.
Rahul, who has led the team for three seasons, could be released before the auction due to concerns about his strike rate. As per the report, the decision to release KL Rahul has been made by mentor Zaheer Khan and head coach Justin Langer.
“The LSG management, including mentor Zaheer Khan and coach Justin Langer, analysed his stats and it has emerged that the team has almost lost all matches where KL has batted long and scored runs. That indicates that his strike rate doesn’t match the momentum of the game. With the Impact Player rule, the scores are getting higher. You can’t afford to have someone taking so much time at the top of the order,” IPL sources told TOI.
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LSG signed KL Rahul for a huge amount of Rs 17 crore, bringing him from Kings XI Punjab before the IPL 2022 mega auction.
At first, the decision paid off because the team reached the playoffs in its first two seasons. However, Rahul’s batting style became a concern. This year, the team did not make it to the knockout stages, and Rahul did not perform well, finishing seventh on the points table.
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Since joining LSG, Rahul’s strike rate has gone down, but the team’s early success hid the problem. Their poor performance last season made the owners realize where things went wrong.
Mayank Yadav is a strong candidate for retention
Mayank Yadav had a great start in the IPL 2024, taking 6 wickets in his first two matches. Sadly, he could only play 2 more matches before getting ruled out due to injury. Despite this setback, he has shown a lot of potential as one of the fastest bowlers in India and is seen as a future star. Because of this, he is a strong candidate for retention, even more so than Ravi Bishnoi.
“Mayank is LSG’s find. They invested in him when no one knew of him and he has shown what kind of impact he can have on a match,” IPL sources said.
After his impressive performances in the IPL, Mayank Yadav made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh, where he took 4 wickets in 3 matches.
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