KL Rahul Reveals Reason for Leaving LSG Despite Retention Offer; CSK Enters 4-Way Race for Indian Star: Report

The next two days will be crucial for world cricket as all 10 franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) unveil their retention lists before the October 31 deadline. One of the most anticipated decisions is the fate of KL Rahul at Lucknow Super Giants. Speculation has been rife among fans about whether the team will retain their captain. Surprisingly, a recent report has suggested that it was actually Rahul himself who chose to leave Lucknow, turning down a retention offer from the franchise.

On August 26, Rahul had travelled to Kolkata to meet LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka at his Alipore office, which sparked rumours that the India star and franchises put their differences behind, and are ready to continue their partnership in the next season as well.

However, Goenka remained tightlipped on Rahul's fate, before a report in ESPNCricinfo earlier this week confirmed that the wicketkeeper-batter is not on their likely retention list, which features Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi and Mohsin Khan.

It seems Rahul was offered by Lucknow to be retained for the 2025 season of the IPL, but decided against it owing to personal and professional reasons, as reported by Times of India on Wednesday.

"LSG were ready to offer top retention bracket to Rahul, but Rahul eventually decided to move on due to personal and professional reasons," a source told TOI.

Despite Rahul no longer being in India's T20I scheme of things, he is likely to be a hot buy at the IPL auction next month, given his captaincy abilities. He had led LSG in three IPL seasons, taking them to the playoffs twice.

Besides the much-rumoured reunion with Royal Challengers Bengaluru on cards, Rahul is set to receive offers from Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans.

"At the moment, there are four franchises who have expressed their interest in him - Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings. Expect all four to go hard for him in the auction," a source told TOI.

Overall, Rahul has played 132 IPL matches, across four franchises - RCB (2013-16, Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014-15), Kings XI Punjab (2018-21), LSG, scoring 4683 runs at 45.47 and a strike rate of 134.61, laced with four centuries and 37 fifties.