The Lucknow Super Giants, under the leadership of KL Rahul, ended a horrible Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, at the seventh position, with seven wins in 14 games at a net run rate (NRR) of -0.667. They began the season quite well, but towards the middle end of the competition, they lost their flow.
Their nightmare game came against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, where the hosts drilled them for a 10-wicket defeat with more than 10 overs to spare in a 160-odd run chase.
KL Rahul got so much critics for a poor season with the bat and the captaincy duties as he missed the mojo during the 17th season of the tournament.
Aakash Chopra responds whether Lucknow should retain KL Rahul
KL Rahul failed to take his team to their third successive IPL playoffs. But with the bat in hand, the opener was fantastic again, smashing 520 runs in 14 innings at an average of 37.14 and a strike rate of 136.12, shouldering on four half-centuries.
The former India captain Aakash Chopra feels that the Lucknow franchise should look to retain Nicholas Pooran and KL Rahul, only if the latter wants to stay with the franchise.
‘Nicholas Pooran should be retained in my opinion. KL Rahul should be retained if he wants to be retained because you want a captain and you won’t get an Indian player of that quality,” Aakash Chopra pointed out during a video shared on his YouTube Channel.
There were a picture of the captain and their owner Sanjiv Goenka being involved in an intense discussion, which gave a picture to many that the team may look to part ways with KL Rahul.
‘Marcus Stoinis is in the maybe or maybe not category. If he is good, he is very, very good, but the good days are often fewer than bad days. So that is a concern. You want more good days,” Former India opener expressed during the same video.
Nicholas Pooran, the wicket-keeper batter was excellent during the competition with 499 runs in 14 innings, at an average of 62.37 and a strike rate of 178.21, with three fifties.
‘I won’t want to retain anyone apart from…’ – Aakash Chopra
The Delhi-born feels that the Lucknow could go for only Ravi Bishnoi and Mayank Yadav for the retention list, only if the latter is available for a less price.
‘I won’t want to retain anyone apart from Ravi Bishnoi in bowling. If I am getting Mayank Yadav in the uncapped category for three to four crores, I might retain him, but I will let everyone else go. I will also let Krunal Pandya go. I will not retain anyone,” Renowned commentator remarked.
Ravi Bishnoi didn’t have a great outing in this IPL 2024, as he could manage only 10 scalps at an economy of 8.77 in 14 innings, at the best bowling figure of 2/25.
It wont be a bad option to release all the players and start afresh for the IPL 2025, which actually could prove to be a huge boon for them.
‘I will say that I will start afresh. I will let Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers and Ashton Turner go because I feel it’s time to make a team with more specialists because bits and pieces won’t work at their ground. Players who play proper cricket, who can hit sixes and bowl well with the big side boundaries, will work here. I will be tempted to press the reboot button,” Aakash Chopra concluded the video discussion.
Kyle Mayers didn’t feature in the single game of the season for the LSG, even after the struggle of De Kock, which was quite a huge surprise.
