KL Rahul integral to LSG, like family to me and my son, asserts Sanjeev Goenka
Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjeev Goenka has cleared the air regarding his relationship with franchise skipper KL Rahul and labelled him as 'family' at a recent public appearance. The side also confirmed at the event that Zaheer Khan would couple as a bowling coach alongside his role of mentor.
Sanjeev Goenka and KL Rahul were infamously involved in a public argument after a Lucknow Super Giants thrashing at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad late into the IPL 2024 campaign. Their animated exchange on the field post-game was caught on camera and led to rumours of a tiff between the two but the franchise owner put all such speculation to rest while addressing a meeting with Rahul on Kolkata in the past week.
"I have been meeting KL on and off regularly over the last three years. Frankly I am surprised this meeting is getting a lot of attention. He is integral [to LSG]. He has been here since the inception. For me personally and for [my son] Shashwat [Goenka, who is also involved in running LSG], he is like family," Goenka was quoted saying by ESPN Cricinfo at a media event in Kolkata.
Nevertheless, no guarantees were explicitly stated over Rahul continuing with the team, having led the team in all three seasons since its inception in 2022. While the side reached the playoffs in each of the first two seasons, they missed out on net run rate in 2024, which was also the first season with Justin Langer in charge as head coach and without the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir who guided Kolkata Knight Riders to the title. The event in discussion was thus organized to formally announce the onboarding of Zaheer Khan to fill that void in the coaching staff ahead of the IPL's announcement of player retention policies for the all-important mega auction for the 2025 season.
"All decisions are medium-term and need to be thought of carefully," Goenka said. "When you have a mega auction you are bound to have a reset. But you try and maintain as much of the core as possible. The coach Justin Langer continues, [support staff] Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes will also be there. So it is a question of improving and going further from where you are now."
Zaheer has so far in his coaching career been involved with the Mumbai Indians as director of cricket as well as their sister outfits across the world after being promoted to head of global development. The former Indian quick had also briefly served with the national team as bowling consultant and confirmed he would couple as the LSG bowling coach given the departure of Morne Morkel from the post to take up the Indian job.
"We [Zaheer and Goenka] got on a call and realised we have a similar stance on many topics about cricket," Zaheer said of his appointment. "We discussed the direction, the culture, the brand the team wants to play. The building blocks are already in place. It's a relatively young franchise but it doesn't seem like that. Reaching playoffs in this fiercely competitive league isn't easy and [seeing their progress] gives me confidence."
"It is a team game, so I will be serving the team in every capacity possible, and yes, it includes bowling. If I am there in the set-up, does the team need another bowling coach?" he added.
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