Star India batter KL Rahul has responded to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka’s comment over retaining players who have the ‘mindset to win’ and put ‘team before personal goals’. While many fans and critics believed that Goenka’s statement was an indirect dig at Rahul, he downplayed the comment. Notably, Lucknow Super Giants retained Nicolas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction as well.
Following the retention announcement, the LSG franchise owner Goenka commented: “We had a very simple mindset to go in with players who have a mindset to win, who put the team before their personal goals and aspirations. And we wanted to retain as much core as possible within our available purse.”
ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill
During an interview with Star Sports, Rahul replied, “No, I mean this decision was made already. I don’t know what the comments are, but they must have come after the announcement of the retentions were made.”
While Lucknow Super Giants had a disappointing seventh in IPL 2024, they made the playoffs in the previous two seasons as well, although they failed to win. Rahul was appointed captain of the new franchise that debuted in 2022 along with Gujarat Titans (GT) as well.
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“It was an amazing experience for me to start a team from scratch. I was part of the auction strategy all three years. Everything that happened at the franchise, I had a say in. We build the team between Andy Flower, Gautam Gambhir, me. We three were there for the first two seasons,” Rahul said. “I don’t think we had many big names in the team, but we found a way to win IPL games and make the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go through in both the years. But, I feel we did exceptionally well with the kind of team that we had. For a new franchise, we put in some special performances and those two years were something that I am very proud of,” he concluded.
