KL Rahul is all set to be retained by the Indian Premier League franchise Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, but it has been reported that the 32-year-old is unlikely to captain the Lucknow-based franchise in the next edition of the world’s richest franchise cricket league.
According to a report in news agency IANS on Tuesday (August 27), Rahul, who is the all-time leading run scorer for LSG in the IPL, himself wants to step down as captain to focus more on his batting. Rahul, who joined LSG from Punjab Kings ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction for Rs 17 crore, met with LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka in Kolkata on Monday.
“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.
As per source, former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran and Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya are in the race to succeed Rahul for the top job.
“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.
Krunal and Pooran both have a experience of leading LSG in the IPL. Krunal was appointed as LSG skipper in the 2023 edition after Rahul was ruled out due to an injury, whereas Pooran captained the side in one match of the 2024 season.
