(Source X)
A new chapter has begun for the Lucknow Super Giants, as the IPL franchise has appointed former World Cup champion and Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan as the team’s new mentor for the 2025 season.
Zaheer will step into the role previously held by Gautam Gambhir, who left the Super Giants to return to his former team, KKR, ahead of the IPL 2024 season.
This isn’t Zaheer Khan’s first experience in a managerial or coaching role. From 2018 to 2022, he was with the Mumbai Indians (MI), initially serving as the director of cricket and later as the head of global development. Before his managerial roles, Zaheer played for three IPL teams: MI, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Delhi Daredevils.
Goenka was cautious about revealing any details regarding KL Rahul’s future with the Lucknow franchise, choosing to avoid any speculation.
“I’ve been meeting with KL regularly over the past three years, so I’m surprised that this particular meeting has garnered so much attention,” Goenka told reporters during the announcement of Zaheer Khan as the new team mentor.
He further stated, “KL has been a crucial and valued member of the LSG family since its inception. He has played a significant role and remains an integral part of the team, just like family.”
Rahul was acquired by LSG for ₹17 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction and has captained the franchise for the past three seasons.
Recently, speculation about his future with the team arose after a lively conversation between Rahul and LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka went viral during IPL 2024. This led to rumors suggesting that Rahul might leave the franchise.
However, Goenka has indicated that decisions regarding captaincy and player retention are still pending. He remains untroubled, confident that there is ample time to make the right choices.
“We have all of September, October and November to decide that. Let the policies be out. We have not even thought about the team going forward, whether retention will be three-four-five or six, we have no clue,” Goenka said.
“Let us see, there is enough time, so bit by bit. Whatever decisions we take today will impact us for the medium term future, so it has to be very well thought out and considered. There is enough time for it so it’s too early. Let the BCCI announce the policy first, then there will be discussions,” he added.
When asked if they plan to hit the ‘reset button’ with the newly appointed mentor Zaheer Khan, he responded,
“You always try and improve and that is a constant endeavour. When you have a mega auction, there is bound to be a reset but you want to retain the core as much as possible you can. Let’s see how it goes.”
“One doesn’t know which way what goes. Certainly the coach (Justin Langer) continues, Lance Kluesener (assistant coach), Jonty Rhodes (fielding coach) also continue. We are delighted for Morne Morkel and Gautam Gambhir, very pleased they have joined the national team,” he added.
