Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) veteran spinner Amit Mishra revealed the infamous confrontation between franchise owner Sanjeev Goenka and captain KL Rahul. Mishra feels that Goenka had the right to be angry at Rahul after LSG lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 wickets as Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma chased down 166 in just 9.4 overs.
“He (Goenka) was very disappointed. We lost two back-to-back matches very badly. Against KKR, we lost by some 90–100 runs, and against SRH, the match was finished within 10 overs. It felt like we were bowling them during a net practice session. If I am so angry about it, will someone who has actually put money into the team not feel angry?” the veteran spinner said on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast.
“It was not a huge deal, but I later came to know that he (Goenka) said that bowling was very bad and the team should have shown some fight. Goenka told Rahul that it looked like you had completely surrendered. But I also feel people and media hyped it a lot," the leg spinner added.
Mishra said that LSG is likely to move on from Rahul and named a new captain for the next season.
“It does not matter if he is on the Indian team or not. But a person who has the right mentality for T20s should be the captain. I am sure LSG will look for a better captain,” Mishra opined.
Meanwhile, Mishra played just one match as an impact player in the IPL 2024 season. He said that Rahul did not give him a valid explanation on why he is warming the benches.
“He told me we want to include you in the team but couldn’t, I had nothing to add after this statement. We were getting bashed in each game and there was no spinner who was actually winning us games through wicket-taking ability or blocking runs like Sunil Narine does for KKR, I feel I deserved to play,” he said.
Rahul’s stint as LSG captain
Under Rahul’s captaincy, LSG made the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. However, in IPL 2024, LSG finished seventh on the points table with seven wins from 14 games. They could not make the playoffs on the basis of inferior net run rate (NRR) than Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) who had same number of wins. Rahul has led LSG in 37 games, winning 20 of them.
If India’s ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma is rested for the series against Sri Lanka, Rahul may lead the side next month.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
