Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra doesn’t see the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) buying KL Rahul again at the IPL 2025 auction. He also stated that the franchise’s skipper for the last three years didn’t have a pleasant departure as well. And, LSG didn’t retain Rahul ahead of the auction, with team owner Sanjiv Goenka saying that they held on to players who keep the team’s interests ahead of their personal goals as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “They don’t need a wicketkeeper-batter but they need batters. They will bid for Shreyas Iyer. They will bid if any other Indian comes. Too many Indians aren’t available. So that is a slightly different story. They might bid for Venkatesh Iyer as well. They might bid for Nitish Rana as well,” he said.
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“Actually, they will bid for all batters and I feel they will buy slightly expensive batters. I feel the parting with KL Rahul hasn’t been good. It seems like there is no good in goodbyes because their owner’s statement and then Rahul’s statement, it just tells us that all is not well. So I don’t see KL Rahul returning there,” Chopra further added.
While talking about the Lucknow Super Giants’ retentions, Aakash Chopra said that Nicholas Pooran will lead the franchise in IPL 2025.
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“They retained Nicholas Pooran for ₹21 crore and he will be this team’s captain. It has been decided or why else would you have retained him. You let KL Rahul go. They have retained Ravi Bishnoi for ₹11 crore and Mayank Yadav also for ₹11 crore. These are interesting choices. Mayank Yadav doesn’t play all matches and remains slightly injured. However, when Mayank Yadav plays, he becomes the Player of the Match. It’s a risky investment but an investment nevertheless. They have focussed a little more on bowling because they will get four overs each from Ravi Bishnoi and Mohsin Khan. They have firstly saved 12 overs of bowling,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
