Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag says Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka has told team captain KL Rahul after the team's 10-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier this week. He was severely criticized for clearly using abusive language. The act was aired on live television shortly after the end of the match in Hyderabad and went viral, damaging LSG's chances of making it to the playoffs this season.
Speaking to Crikbuzz on Saturday ahead of the start of the IPL 2024 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, Sefag said the owners will be meeting with the players to talk about positive and motivational stories. I thought that I should only deal with certain cases and leave the rest alone. The responsibility for cricket rests on the shoulders of the captain and support staff.
“The owner's role, when he meets the players in the locker room or in the press conference, should be to speak just to motivate the players. But when the owner comes in and says, 'What's going on? What happened? 'Or they grab one of the team management members and start asking questions about a particular player… Watching the coach and captain run the team, these owners don't want to get involved with the players or “It's better not to be angry with me,” he said.
The former India opener, who also coached Punjab Kings in the IPL for three seasons from 2016 to 2018, later condemned Goenka's actions and said that he was a businessman and suffered losses after LSG's loss to SRH. He said that he did not do so. He pointed out that irrespective of the team's performance, the owners are certainly making a sizable profit, and the only loss they may face is the possibility of Rahul leaving the franchise at the end of the 2024 season. He added that it is true.
“They are all businessmen. They only understand profit and loss. But here there is no loss, so what bothers them? You have a profit of 400 million So it's a business where you don't have to do anything. There are people in charge of it, so you can profit from it no matter what happens. So your job is just to motivate the players. What will happen is that the players will think that there are other franchises in the IPL and if I leave, someone else will take me. , their chances of winning become zero. When I left Punjab, they were fifth. They had never been fifth in any other season,” he said.
Immediately after Goenka's act went viral on social media, speculation began about Rahul's long-term future with LSG, which is in the sixth position after 12 matches. There were also reports that Rahul will not take up the captaincy duties for the remaining two league games.
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