Kolkata : Former Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) has opened up on leaving the franchise ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction.
The keeper’s form with Bat and leadership wasn’t upto the mark last season as LSG failed to qualify for 1st time in 3 season. Besides that, he also reportedly had fall out with the team management. Rahul also reportedly clarified them that the franchise shouldn’t retain him ahead of the 2025 IPL auction. As a result of which, LSG only retained Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 Crore), Ravi Bishnoi (INR 11 Crore), Mayank Yadav (INR 11 Crore), Mohsin Khan (INR 4 Crore) and Ayush Badoni (INR 4 Crore).
Rahul has now opened up on his decision to leave the LSG franchise, and stated he wants a fresh start, explore more options and wants to go to a team where he can find more freedom and lighter atmosphere.
“I wanted to start fresh, I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom, where the team atmosphere could be something lighter. Sometimes you need to move away and find something good for yourself,” KL Rahul said on a promo on Star Sports.
Rahul didn’t feature in the Indian T20I team for 2 years, having last played back in 2022 against England at Adelaide Oval in ICC T20 WC 2022 Semi Final where India faced shambolic 10 wickets defeat. The keeper’s form was criticized and BCCI dropped him from the team, replacing with youngsters having aggressive mindset and form. As per Rahul, he wants to showcase his class and use IPL 2025 as a platform with main aim to get back to the Indian team’s T20I side.
“I have been out of the T20 team for a while and I know where I stand as a player and I know what I need to do to get back, so I’ll look forward to this IPL season to give me that platform where I can go back and enjoy my cricket and my aim is to obviously get back into the Indian T20 team,” Rahul further added.
Gautam Gambhir shows faith in KL Rahul despite lack of form
Indian Head coach Gautam Gambhir has shown great faith on Rahul despite his recent lack of form and failures. He was heavily criticised upon his poor run in the 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand at Home and his place was questioned by experts.
However, Gambhir stated that he can be one of the options to play in the first Test match against Australia in Perth if Rohit Sharma is not playing. In the press conference before the team departed for Australia, Gambhir praised Rahul for his versatility and even mentioned that not many countries around the world can say that they have such an “all-round” player in their ranks.
“There are times when you go with the experienced players as well, and that is the quality of a man that he (Rahul) can actually bat at the top of the order, he can bat at number 3 and he can actually bat at number 6 as well,” Gambhir said at the press conference.
“So you need quite a lot of talent to be doing these kind of jobs as well and he has kept wickets in one day format as well. So imagine how many countries have players like KL who can actually open the batting and can bat at number 6 as well? “So I feel that if needed be, I think he can do the job for us, especially if Rohit is not available for the first Test match,” India head coach added.
