Owner of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants, Sanjiv Goenka, described K.L. as "family" and underlined that Rahul forms an integral part of the franchise. However, Goenka did not elaborate on the retention strategy of his team in view of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rahul, who has been leading LSG since IPL 2022, was in Kolkata earlier this week to meet Goenka, which set the tongues wagging. "I have been meeting KL on and off regularly over the last three years. Frankly I am surprised this meeting is getting a lot of attention,
"He is integral, he has been here since the inception. For me personally for Shashwat, he is like family," said Goenka at a press conference at the RPSG headquarters where Zaheer Khan was unveiled as the side's new mentor.
On the retention strategy, Goenka said: "We have all of September, October and November to decide that. Let the (retention) policies be out. We have not even thought about the team going forward whether retention will be three-four-five or six (players), we have no clue."
"Let us see, there is sufficient time, so bit by bit. All decisions are mid-term and need to be thought of correctly. When you have a mega auction you are bound to have a reset. But you try and maintain as much of the core as possible."
Time for that, so it's too early. Let the BCCI announce the policy first, then we will discuss all these things. And the coach Justin Langer continues, Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes will be there also-so it is a question of improving upon and going further than where you are at the moment.
One of the big talking points in the IPL this time is whether the Impact Player rule is going to continue or not. With senior India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin saying the ruling gives in terms of tactics employed by teams and giving young Indian players a chance to play, Zaheer also shared thoughts on similar lines.
I put it on record-I am for it. It gave opportunities to a lot of uncapped Indian players. You'll see that in this mega auction when teams are going to look at them. Opportunity goes a long way towards improving the Indian cricket as a whole.
"As far as all-rounders are concerned, because of the impact sub, there is no space for a half-allrounder. But if you are a genuine all-rounder, nobody can stop you. There will always be a value addition if you have that kind of ability with bat and ball," he said.
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