'We were about to win IPL 2017 final' - Did Sanjeev Goenka take dig on KL Rahul?

Sanjiv Goenka (Twitter)

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka reflected on his past experience in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He drew some differences that carry a message for his current team's leadership, particularly skipper KL Rahul.

Goenka's revelation comes after the franchise's disappointing seventh-place finish in IPL 2024, contrasting to their playoff appearances in the previous two seasons.The downfall has fuelled the speculation about potential leadership structure changes. Recalling his tenure with Rising Pune Supergiant/s (RPS) in 2016 and 2017, Goenka opened up about the critical moment from the 2017 IPL final. 

"We were about to win the final, but due to our lack of experience, we lost. So making the right calls in those crunch moments is key," he told Sports Tak.

Also read: LSG did not had analysts, it was all Gautam Gambhir's team: Sanjiv Goenka I am not satisfied if someone comes and tells me we played badly today: Sanjiv Goenka

Goenka emphasised the need for an Indian mind with a strong desire to win in the team's leadership. He expressed dissatisfaction with the current management's handling of poor performances. He also praised the former mentor Gautam Gambhir's role and his expectations from new mentor Zaheer Khan.

"I am not satisfied if someone comes and tells me we played badly today. Then, repeats the same thing the next two days. So I will ask him, ‘Why?’ One player can be off-form, but XI players cannot be off-form every day. The decision-making role that Zaheer can play. The role that Gautam played was lacking last season. So my expectation from Zaheer is to work on that decision-making," he added.

Also read: Sanjiv Goenka on Zaheer Khan's appointment as mentor

Interestingly, Goenka's recollection of the RPS team, led by MS Dhoni and later Steve Smith, seems to contradict his point about inexperience. The 2017 RPS squad included seasoned players like Ajinkya Rahane and Dan Christian, suggesting that experience alone may not guarantee success.

"The Super Giants family has been in the IPL for five years. Two of those were with Pune, and three were with Lucknow. When we reached the finals with Pune, it was a new and inexperienced team. You leave out Steve Smith and MS Dhoni, we didn't have much experience in the team," he further concluded.