According to TOI, Lucknow Super Giants are likely to release KL Rahul and retain Mayank Yadav ahead of the IPL mega auction.

Rahul, who has led the team for three seasons, could be released before the auction due to concerns over his scoring rate. According to the report, the decision to release KL Rahul was taken by mentor Zaheer Khan and head coach Justin Langer.

“LSG management, including mentor Zaheer Khan and coach Justin Langer, analyzed their statistics and it turned out that the team almost lost all the matches in which KL batted long and scored runs. That indicates that his hit rate doesn’t match the momentum of the game. With the Impact Player rule, the scores are getting higher and higher. You can’t afford for someone to take that much time at the top of the order,” IPL sources told TOI.

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LSG signed KL Rahul for a whopping amount of Rs 17 crore, bringing him from Kings XI Punjab ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.

The decision initially paid off as the team made the playoffs in its first two seasons. However, Rahul’s batting style became a concern. This year, the team did not reach the round of 16 and Rahul did not perform well, finishing seventh in the points table.

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Since joining LSG, Rahul’s goal rate has decreased but the team’s initial success masked the problem. Their poor performance last season made the owners realize where things went wrong.

Mayank Yadav is a strong retention candidate

Mayank Yadav had a great start to IPL 2024, taking 6 wickets in his first two matches. Unfortunately, he was only able to play 2 more games before being ruled out due to injury. Despite this setback, he has shown great potential as one of India’s fastest bowlers and is seen as a future star. Because of this, he is a strong retention candidate, even more so than Ravi Bishnoi.

“Mayank is the discovery of LSG. They invested in him when no one knew him and he has shown the kind of impact he can have on a match,” IPL sources said.

After his impressive performances in the IPL, Mayank Yadav made his T20I debut for India against Bangladesh where he took 4 wickets in 3 matches.

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