The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) leg-spinner Amit Mishra has opened up on the massive row that took place during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, between the franchise captain KL Rahul and the owner Sanjiv Goenka. The incident occurred at the end of Lucknow’s 10-wicket defeat in the 166-run defense with more than 10 overs to spare, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Winning the toss, the visitors opted to bat first, as the batters couldn’t find the momentum throughout the innings. KL Rahul could make 29 runs in 33 balls, while Krunal Pandya ended with a 24-run knock in 21 balls. Later it was the unbeaten 99-run stand between Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni that fired the Super Giants to 165/4 in their 20-overs.
Amit Mishra wasn’t part of the contest, as he spent his time being one of the top five substitutes. The Sunrisers hardly needed to work for their run chase as the unbeaten opening partnership between Abhishek Sharma (75*) and Travis Head (89*) was enough to earn the points.
‘I feel people and media hyped it up a bit’- Amit Mishra regarding KL Rahul- Sanjiv Goenka controversy
Following the end of the game, the camera found both KL Rahul and Goenka getting into a heated chat between themselves, which became a huge topic among the fans and the experts, Many thought it was about the team’s captain KL Rahul’s slow innings that was the nucleus of the moment.
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However, Amit Mishra during an interaction on YouTuber Shubhankar Mishra’s show ‘Unplugged’, opened up on the controversial incident and shed light on some unknown facts of the evening.
‘He (Goenka) was 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.’ Mishra expressed at the podcast. ‘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 bowling of the side wasn’t up to the mark, but hardly the wicket-keeper KL Rahul had anything to do with that. He kept on changing bowlers and setting different field sets, but the results didn’t come in their favor.
The former India leg-spinner felt that the team should have shown some fight, besides addressing that the people and media hyped it a little too much.
‘It was not a huge deal. But I later came to know that he said that the bowling was very bad and the team should have shown some fight. It looked like you have completely surrendered. But I feel people and media hyped it up a bit.’ Amit Mishra continued regarding the KL Rahul and Sanjiv Goenka incident.
Lucknow Super Giants, after making two back-to-back playoffs in their first couple of seasons, ended at the seventh position in the points table. A few of the reports also suggested that the team could look to part ways with captain KL Rahul. However, any official statement is yet to come from the team or the player’s side.
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‘It does not matter if he is in the Indian team or not. But a person who has the right mentality for T20s should be the captain. Someone who plays for the team should be captain. I am sure LSG will look for a better captain.’ Amit Mishra concluded.
After the IPL 2024, the opening batter was left out of India’s Men T20 World Cup squad, as he aims to make a comeback in the national side during the upcoming white-ball series in Sri Lanka.