The former Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul finally opens up about team owner Sanjiv Goenka’s heated conversation with him during the 57th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). After several months of painful experience, the Indian wicketkeeper batter said that Sanjiv’s conversation hurt a lot to the whole team.

During the post-match presentation, the LSG owner was spotted gesturing his hands showing his disappointment over KL Rahul at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. It was because LSG was in a must-win situation against SRH to keep their playoff qualification hopes alive. But, a massive 10-wicket loss resulted in a huge decline in LSG’s net run rate and straight away marked the team’s failure to reach playoffs for the first time since its debut season in 2022 under KL Rahul’s captaincy.

The incident ignited the rumors that Rahul would be released by LSG ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, which later became a reality when all the franchises submitted their retention list on October 31 (Thursday).

Sanjiv Goenka’s Words Affected the Entire Group: KL Rahul Breaks Silence

In his recent interview with Star Sports, KL Rahul opened up on the highly publicized chat with Sanjiv Goenka:

“No! It wasn’t a good moment to be part of something that anyone would like to see on the cricket field. I believe that whatever happened on the field after the match had an impact on the entire group.

As a team, we weren’t able to recover from the shock because we were in a stage where every game was crucial to still having a chance to qualify for the playoffs. We had to win 2 out of 4 or 3 out of our last 5 games.

We tried to regain our composure and tried our level best, but it was disappointing that our best efforts didn’t help us gain important victories. It was a disheartening experience that we couldn’t qualify for playoffs or win the championship title in any of the seasons as expected. Overall, it was a huge shock for all of us,” KL Rahul said.

KL Rahul About SRH vs LSG Match in IPL 2024: One of the Worst Games

Speaking about the SRH vs LSG match, KL Rahul says that it was one of the worst games in his career he ever played:

“Yeah! I remember that match as one of the worst games I have taken part not only as a player but also as a captain and keeper behind the stumps. I was left stunned by how the Sunrisers dominated against our bowlers. Later, we watched on TV the explosive combination of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. But, watching the match close, whatever plans we executed resulted in the ball traveling towards the boundary. All of our bowlers’ deliveries were struck in the middle of the bat and were sent sailing into the crowd.

Scoring 160 to 170 runs in just nine overs was inconceivable. At that moment, we were in doubt as if it was a dream or reality by pinching ourselves to find out what exactly happened,” KL Rahul expressed his disappointment.

SRH vs LSG IPL 2024: The Worst Nightmare for KL Rahul and His Team

Shouldering a huge responsibility in a crucial match, KL Rahul batting at the opening spot was severely criticized for his slow approach by scoring 29 runs from 33 balls by striking a four and six with a poor strike rate of 87.87. However, LSG managed to post a decent total of 165-4 in 20 overs assisted with the contributions of Ayush Badoni’s 30-ball-55 runs (including 9 fours) and Nicholas Pooran’s 26-ball-48 runs (including 6 fours and 1 six).

Shockingly, the SRH opening batters Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head’s blistering half-centuries propelled their team to chase a target of 166 runs in just 9.4 overs. Despite the LSG bowlers conceding just 3 extras (1 leg bye and 2 byes), the duo openers launched their assault by scoring most of their runs through fours and sixes.

Abhishek’s 75 runs from 28 balls (including 8 fours and 2 sixes) at a strike rate of 267.85 showed his intent to accumulate runs in the powerplay overs. But, Travis Head grabbed the spotlight by scoring 89 runs from just 30 balls (including 8 fours and 8 sixes) at a massive strike rate of 267.85.

Fans started to compare Abishek and Head’s batting style with KL Rahul’s old-school approach of anchoring the team’s innings with a strike rate of less than 100 didn’t work out well in a dynamic-paced T20 format. Moreover, the young generation batters in recent times have started to set a new trend in T20 leagues by scoring runs instantly and batting at a 200 to 300 strike rate.

Finally, KL Rahul would aim for a fresh start by joining another team in IPL 2025 that could help revive his T20 career by transitioning from an opener to a middle-order batter role.