KL an integral part of LSG: Sanjiv; mum on captaincy

Kolkata: Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka on Wednesday called KL Rahul “an integral part of the franchise” amid speculations around his future in the team but remained evasive on player retention and captaincy for next IPL season.

Goenka’s animated discussion with Rahul after a heavy defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad had become one of the talking points of last season’s IPL. On Monday, Rahul met the team owner in Kolkata and expressed his wish to remain in the team, months after the video of the discussion between the two sparked speculations on whether the elegant India batter would want to continue his stint at the franchise. “Look, I’ve been meeting KL regularly over last three years. I’m a little surprised this meeting got so much attention. As I’ve said we have not taken any call till the retention rules are out,” Goenka said.

“But KL has been an integral and important part of the LSG family since inception. He’s played a very important role. He’s like family and will be family.” When asked about player retention and captaincy, Goenka said they are yet to arrive at a decision and are waiting for the BCCI to release the rules regarding retention. “We have all of September, October and November to decide that. Let the policies be out. We have not even thought about the team going forward, whether retention will be three-four-five or six, we have no clue,” Goenka said. Former India speedster Zaheer Khan assumed the role of Lucknow Super Giants team mentor and termed it the start of something “very, very special” for the franchise that failed to win the IPL despite reaching the playoffs twice in three seasons.

“LSG are a relatively young franchise in IPL, but it has not been looked upon like that, the building blocks are pretty much in place,” Zaheer said.