KL Rahul is likely to be released by the Lucknow Super Giants before the 2025 IPL auction after the latest retention rules from the IPL Governing Council. Teams are now thinking about how best to use retention, the Right-To-Match card, and new signings in the auction.
There has been uncertainty about the future of KL Rahul with the Super Giants, especially after his performance last season and his absence from India’s T20I squad. Recent reports suggest that LSG management didn’t give Rahul their full support ahead of the retention deadline.
As reported by the Times of India, LSG mentor Zaheer Khan and coach Justin Langer reviewed Rahul’s role in the team’s losses last season. After closely analyzing the statistics, they found that the team’s chances of losing went up the longer Rahul stayed at the crease and faced more deliveries.
“The LSG management, including mentor Zaheer Khan and coach Justin Langer, has analysed his stats and it has emerged that the team has almost lost all matches where KL has batted long and scored runs. That indicates that his strike rate doesn’t match the momentum of the game. With the Impact Player rule, the scores are getting higher. You can’t afford to have someone taking so much time at the top of the order,” IPL source told.
The report also states that fast bowler Mayank Yadav is almost certain to be retained by LSG. He is expected to be among the top 3 players the team will keep.
“Mayank is LSG’s find. They invested in him when no one knew of him and he has shown what kind of impact he can have on a match,” the report further said.
Who Is KL Rahul’s replacement in LSG?
It has also been reported that LSG is likely to keep uncapped players like Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan. Additionally, LSG is reportedly interested in signing Rishabh Pant as their captain if the Delhi Capitals choose to let go of the wicket-keeper batter. Pant has been very impressive for Delhi Capitals and under his captaincy team has performed well in a couple of seasons.
