Reports| KL Rahul and Rashid Khan might be banned from IPL for a year

Teams submitted their final retentions ahead of the IPL 2022 which will feature a mega auction and two new participating teams. Lucknow and Ahmedabad are the two new entrants to enter the pool of IPL teams. There were some notable inclusions and exclusions in the players retained by franchises. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) left out Rashid Khan which was a surprising move. Rashid will now be a hot pick going into the mega auction. SRH retained Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, and Umran Malik for the upcoming season. Punjab Kings (PBKS) retained Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh.

As per a report by Insidesport, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have complained to BCCI that the RPSG Group-backed Lucknow franchise has been trying to pursue and poach KL Rahul and Rashid Khan to leave their respective franchises. According to the report, Lucknow has offered more than Rs 20 crores to KL Rahul while Rashid Khan has been offered Rs 16 crores to play for them. If it is found that both these players have been talking to other franchises despite being under contract with their respective franchises they may face a one year ban. 

According to the website, a source close to BCCI said that they haven’t received any letter but have received a verbal complaint.

“We haven’t received any letter but we have received a verbal complaint from two franchises about players poaching by Lucknow team. We are looking into it, and we will take appropriate action if it proves to be true. We don’t want to disturb the balance. You cannot avoid such things when there is fierce competition. But it’s not fair to the existing teams when they are trying to balance everything.”

A similar incident occurred in 2010 when Ravindra Jadeja was banned for a year for having been involved in talks with other franchises despite being under contract with the Rajasthan Royals.