(Sportzpics)
Star Indian batter KL Rahul is set to be retained by the Lucknow Super Giants for the IPL 2025 season, but it’s reported that he may not continue as the team’s captain. According to an IANS report on August 27, the 32-year-old, who holds the record as LSG’s all-time leading run scorer, is considering stepping down from the captaincy to concentrate more on his batting.
Rahul, who was acquired by LSG from the Punjab Kings for Rs 17 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, recently discussed this with LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka in Kolkata.
“The meeting was official with the CEO Sanjiv Goenka on Monday; the captaincy and retention topics were discussed. However, Rahul is unlikely to captain the side in the upcoming edition as he wants to explore himself more as a batter. Goenka has full confidence in Rahul, and he will be retained as a player but will not be seen captaining the side,” a source was quoted as saying by IANS.
According to sources, former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran and Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya are contenders to replace KL Rahul as the team’s captain.
“We are still exploring the captaincy option, but with BCCI agreeing on player retention conditions, we have two players (Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran) in the race,” he added.
Rahul’s record in IPL
KL Rahul began his IPL career with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2013 season and later played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He joined the Punjab Kings during the 2018 mega auction and, over four seasons with the Mohali-based team, accumulated 2,548 runs in 55 matches. Rahul also captained the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons before moving to the Lucknow Super Giants.
