The owner of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Sanjiv Goenka, on Wednesday welcomed former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan to the team as its new mentor. Speculation on the strategic plans for LSG in the upcoming IPL mega auction and on the future of marquee players heightens around this appointment.
What appears to ease the situation on the front is the appointment of Zaheer Khan at this point in time when the uncertainty clouds the status of KL Rahul. In addition to this, there have been speculations regarding LSG’s plans to buy out the captain of the T20 World-Cup-winning Indian team and prominent player of Mumbai Indians (MI), Rohit Sharma. With the suspension of Hardik Pandya as captain of MI as some fans have strongly reacted. After the bullying and forcing captains without any proper basis, questions have been raised over Rohit’s role in MI.
There is a report, however highly speculative, that LSG had minded booking a whopping Rs 50 crore for the bargain, if Rohit Sharma were put under the hammer. Sanjiv Goenka in an interview with SportsTak categorically opposed the allegation maintaining that such speculation was pointless or even ridiculous.
“Do you have any idea whether Rohit Sharma will participate in the auction? This is pure bunk! It all comes down to this: Whether Mumbai Indians will release him or not. And even if Rohit comes to auction…. What if you put fifty percent of the purse on one player? How will you buy the other players?” Goenka replied with a laugh.
“Everybody wants the best captain and the best players. It’s not a question of wanting, it’s availability of assets with what all you can do. Similarly, every franchise will have the same. All the franchises will posses in all likeness the same ambition,” he added.
Sanjiv Goenka particularly pointed out that while acquiring Rohit Sharma type of players will be a boon for any team. It would not make sense to spend that much money on signing just one player from the franchise’s budget. He made it clear that building a good competitive team continues to be the main priority for LSG.
