Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are set to mutually part ways with captain KL Rahul ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction. The IPL governing council has set October 31 as the deadline for teams to submit their list of retained and released players from the current squad. According to a report in Cricbuzz, Rahul has expressed his desire to leave LSG after his request to bat in the middle-order was declined by the management owing to composition and dynamics.
The report also revealed that LSG could exercise the Right To Match (RTM) card on Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.
“While LSG have the option to exercise the RTM for Rahul, the chances of that happening are remote – virtually nil. They may do it for a player like Marcus Stoinis,” the report claimed.
With Rahul set to be released, LSG are likely to retain the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni, with the last two being uncapped retentions.
Rahul has been linked with several teams ahead of the auction. However, if he enters the auction table, RCB are likely to go all in for their former player.
He played two seasons for RCB in 2013 and 2016, respectively, before joining Punjab in 2018.
Rahul’s strike rate has been a point of contention for LSG throughout. In fact, he hasn’t scored at a strike of over 140 since the 2019 IPL season, and hit as low as 113 in 2023.
If Rahul and LSG decide to mutually part ways, he will be one of the big Indian names hitting the auction pool. Rahul has amassed 4,683 IPL runs over the years, at an average of 45 and a strike rate of 134.
All is not going well for Rahul as he was dropped from India’s playing XI for the 2nd Test against New Zealand in Pune. However, he has been added to the squad for the upcoming Test tour of Australia.