KL Rahul's comeback to Lucknow Super Giants' home-ground on Tuesday had a major sub-plot. From IPL 2022 to 2024, Rahul was the captain of the Sanjiv Goenka-owned LSG. Then in 2024, Rahul left LSG. While the official reason he gave was that he wanted to play with more freedom and be part of a dressing room that was relaxed, rumour mills had a different story. Earlier in IPL 2024, a video broke the internet which showed Sanjiv Goenka animatedly talking to KL Rahul after LSG's loss to SunRisers Hyderabad in a match.
Rahul left LSG and was picked by DC in the IPL 2025 auction. The two again came face to face on the cricket field for the first time in IPL 2025, and their meeting was awkward. After Rahul slammed a match-winning 57* for DC vs LSG, Rahul had an awkward interaction with Goenka. The star batter barely looked at Goenka, as he shared a hurried hand-shake with Goenka. The industrialist appeared to be telling something to Rahul, but he barely noticed it.
Immediately, after the incident, Indian cricket team batter Hanuma Vihari posted a cryptic note: "Cold hand-shake"
KL Rahul became the fastest batter to reach 5000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the wicket-keeper batter reached the milestone during Delhi Capitals' eight-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) here on Tuesday. Rahul reached the elusive milestone in 130 innings and beat the likes of David Warner (135), Virat Kohli (157), AB de Villiers (161) and Shikhar Dhawan (168) in the list. While facing his former team that he had captained in IPL 2024 before being released by the franchise following a fiery encounter with the owner of the franchise, Rahul scored a slow and steady unbeaten 57 off 44 deliveries to cross the line and claim a massive victory.
Goenka has now talked about his feelings about Rahul. He termed him a "shareef insaan" and said he has both respect and love for him.
"KL Rahul has always been family for me and he will remain that way. He captained Lucknow for three years and have shown great results during his tenure. I genuinely wish for his good, no matter what happens," Goenka said on the TRS podcast.
"Shareef insan hai (He is a good person)," said Goenka while talking about Rahul. "He is a very honest person and I wish that everything good happens to a honest person like him. He is also very talented and I wish he displays his talent to the world. I am very sure he will do well. My best wishes are with him."