Lucknow Super Giants announced the appointment of the legendary Indian bowler Zaheer Khan as a mentor ahead of the IPL 2025 season on Wednesday. LSG owners Sanjiv Goenka and Zaheer also shared their thoughts on the team's plans, including the future of KL Rahul with the franchise, for the next season.
After leading the franchise to the back-to-back playoffs, KL Rahul was scrutinised for the team's performances in the IPL 2024. LSG finished seventh in the league stages leading the talks of overhaul changes to the team for the next season.
Last month, the BCCI held a meeting with all IPL team owners to discuss and understand their thoughts on the mega auction, player retentions and impact player rules. Zaheer Khan talked in favour of keeping an impact player rule saying it is playing a big role in the development of uncapped Indian players.
Rahul's future with the Lucknow-based team is in the air as rumours of him leaving the team have surfaced online recently. Goenka refused to comment on speculations and said that the experienced wicketkeeper remains an integral part of the team. However, he added that it's too early to confirm KL Rahul as a captain for the next season and to decide on player retention.
"I don’t want to comment on speculation. All I will say is KL Rahul is family," Sanjiv Goenka said. "Still enough time to decide on retention and captaincy. Everything has to be very well thought out, KL Rahul is an important and integral part of the Supergiants family."
Goenka came under heavy criticism after a video of him allegedly arguing with KL Rahul during the post-match scenes in the IPL 2024 went viral. Recently both KL Rahul and Goenka were spotted together on a couple of occasions signalling no rift in management at LSG.
