Hyderabad: Former leader of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), KL Rahul has explained the reason behind leaving the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 Mega Auction. After captaining the team for the last three seasons, Rahul was not retained by LSG ahead of the mega auction. The bidding process will be held on November 24 and 25.
Reflecting on his move to leave the franchise, Rahul stated that he left the team because he needed freedom.
“I wanted to start fresh, I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom, where the team atmosphere could be something lighter. Sometimes you need to move away and find something good for yourself," KL Rahul said in a video shared by Star Sports.
"I have been out of the T20 team for a while and I know where I stand as a player and I know what I need to do to get back, so I'll look forward to this IPL season to give me that platform where I can go back and enjoy my cricket and my aim is to obviously get back into the Indian T20 team," Rahul further added.
Rahul’s association with Sanjiv Goenka-owned side came to an end after they retained Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 Crore), Ravi Bishnoi (INR 11 Crore), Mayank Yadav (INR 11 Crore), Mohsin Khan (INR 4 Crore) and Ayush Badoni (INR 4 Crore) ahead of the mega auction.
Rahul managed to accrue 524 runs last season with an average of 37.14 and a strike rate of 136.13. LSG finished in the seventh position with 14 points from 14 fixtures in the IPL 2024.
