The former India opener expects his players to be fully involved in the IPL and not harbour national team hopes for the duration of the tournament.
Two-time Premier League winning captain Gautam Gambhir, who joined Lucknow Supergiants as a mentor in January, has addressed the challenges that lay ahead for their side ahead of the mega auction scheduled to take place later this month.
The 40-year-old spoke about newly-appointed captain KL Rahul and the responsibilities he will shoulder and has also urged the support staff to make the skipper’s life easier, giving him the mental freedom to get the job done.
Gambhir also said that he does not appreciate the fact that players often think of playing for their country whilst still in the IPL, and instead suggested that the players should think of representing the Lucknow franchise, and the opportunity of playing for their country can be addressed post the completion of the tournament.
“It is for the support staff to make him feel free. The biggest burden will not be the price tag but the pressure to perform. We want players who are honest, want to play for the franchise and who do not think of playing for India in those two months. Playing for India is a by-product. We want performances for Lucknow,”
the former Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders captain told NDTV.
Owner of the Lucknow franchise Sanjiv Goenka also spoke about Rahul’s appointment as captain, calling it a ‘no-brainer’, and claimed that there was an instantaneous agreement between the two parties regarding the vision of the franchise, and that Rahul did not need much convincing to join the Lucknow Supergiants.
Goenka acknowledged that he was very much impressed by Rahul’s calm and collected demeanour on the pitch and lavished praise on the Karnataka man’s temperament.
“Appointing KL as captain was no brainer. We approached him and there was meeting of minds. I am very impressed with his cool approach and unflappable temperament. He is not very expressive and that’s also the way I am,”
Goenka said.
Rahul has been criticised in the past for his lacklustre captaincy for the Punjab Kings, as they seemed to lose games from winning positions on more than one occasion.
However, there is also the argument that he did not receive much support from the rest of his team apart from fellow Karnataka opener Mayank Agarwal. This time around, Rahul has two other former Punjab players in his team already, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi.
The IPL 2022 Mega Auctions will take place on February 12-13 in Bengaluru, where the 10 teams will compete against one another to secure the services of the biggest names going around. The 15th edition of the Premier League is reportedly set to begin in the last week of March.
