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KL Rahul made a half-century against his old franchise Lucknow Super Giants and then later took to social media to express his love for the city.
KL Rahul (left) celebrates after hitting fifty and then greets LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka (right) during the post-match handshake. (BCCI/X)
KL Rahul made quite a statement with a fine effort with the bat as he guided Delhi Capitals to a comfortable eight-wicket win against his old franchise Lucknow Super Giants in an IPL 2025 clash held on Tuesday. Returning to his old stomping ground for the first time since being released by the team last year, Rahul scored an unbeaten half-century with the help of three fours and as many sixes as LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka watched from the stands.
Rahul had an infamous fallout with Goenka last year when LSG endured a tough season, finishing seventh on the points table and thus not qualifying for the IPL playoffs for the first time in three years. After captaining the franchise for three seasons – two of them resulting in playoff qualifications – Rahul was released ahead of the IPL mega auction in 2024.
Rahul sealed the win with a six over mid-wicket region to finish unbeaten on 57 off 42.
On Tuesday, after securing the win, Rahul seemed to be in a hurry during the post-match customary handshakes while greeting Goenka.
And afterwards, he shared a message via social media to his LSG fans.
“Always good to be back in Lucknow,” Rahul wrote while sharing a series of pictures from his innings against LSG on Tuesday. The carousel including image of him celebrating by point out his name on the back of his DC jersey with the bat.
On his LSG exit, Rahul had indicated that all was not well inside the LSG dressing room.
“I wanted to start fresh, I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom, where the team atmosphere could be something lighter. Sometimes you need to move away and find something good for yourself,” Rahul told Star Sports in November last year.
Goenka had explained the reason why LSG chose to retain the players they did while releasing the likes of Rahul among others.
“It was a simple mindset to go in with players who have a mindset to win, who put the team before their personal goals and personal aspirations and we wanted to retain as much as of the core we could,” Goenka had said.
