Indian cricketer KL Rahul, who has led the Lucknow Super Giants for three consecutive years since their addition to the Indian Premier League (IPL) could be sacked from captaincy, claimed former leg spinner Amit Mishra.
Rahul, who was excluded from the recent T20 World Cup 2024 squad has been criticized for his poor approach to the T20 format, and for failing to adapt to the modern style of cricket.
Doubts of Rahul's future captaincy erupted following his post-match spat with LSG owner, Sanjiv Goenka, after the team had lost their IPL 2024 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 wickets.
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Why did Amit Mishra claim that KL Rahul will not continue to captain LSG in IPL 2025?
Amit Mishra was speaking on Shubshankar Mishra's YouTube channel in an interview titled "Unplugged ft. Amit Mishra" when he was asked about KL Rahul's future as captain at the LSG franchise.
The host asked the leg spinner if KL Rahul will continue as captain in IPL 2025 or if his style of captaincy and tactics had become "outdated", in which case, LSG might look for alternative options include Nicholas Pooran.
"I think the captain's mindset should be such that he plays for the team and puts the team first. I think Lucknow for look for a better captaincy option next year," Mishra said, giving his opinion that KL Rahul is likely to be sacked as the franchise's captain come IPL 2025.
What was the controversy surrounding Sanjiv Goenka and LSG captain KL Rahul?
Mishra, who was also part of the LSG franchise in IPL 2024 gave his opinion about the KL Rahul-Sanjiv Goenka spat, which ended up in a controversy following the team's 10 wicket-loss against SRH.
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"Actually, we were all disappointed because we had terribly lost back-to-back games. I was so ashamed that I went back to the dressing room immediately. First, we lost to KKR by 98-100 runs and then to SRH won the next match inside five overs. It felt like we were giving them net practice," he said
Mishra played down the controversy saying that Sanjiv Goenka was merely questioning the captain about the team's poor body language and lack of fighting spirit. He added that it was only made out to be a big issue by the fans and media.
"I was disappointed as a player; you can imagine how disappointed someone who has invested crores of their money and is watching this performance of his team. It was not a big issue, but the owner questioned Rahul's match plans and about the team's lack of fighting spirit, saying that they had surrendered to the opposition. I think the media hyped it and made a big controversy out of it," he added.
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