“The first retention was an automatic choice and happened within two minutes, that is Nicholas Pooran. We had a very simple mindset to go in with players who have a mindset to win, who put the team before their personal goals and aspirations,” he had said.

Asked about if these comments made any impact on his decision to leave, Rahul said in an interaction with Star Sports,” No, the decision was made already. I don’t know what the comments are but they must have come after the announcements of retentions were made. I felt like I wanted to start fresh, I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom and where the team atmosphere will be somewhat lighter, much more balanced.”

“The pressure is already high in the IPL. You see teams like Gujarat and CSK and all of these teams and you see even when they win or lose, they seem really balanced, the dressing room is really calm and that’s something very important to me as a player. If that happens, it gives all the players the best chance to perform. We tried that at LSG with Andy Flower and GG (Gautam Gambhir) first and then last year we had Justin Langer. We tried to create that in the changing room and I think it was a brilliant atmosphere in the changing room but sometimes you need to move away and find something good for yourself,” he added.

The LSG franchise finished 3rd in the 2022 and 2023 seasons under Rahul. But Lucknow could not make its way into the play-offs last season which might have added to the skipper’s non retention.

Last season, the cameras had caught Goenka having an animated chat with skipper KL Rahul after LSG failed to win a match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.