Reports: KL Rahul, Rashid Khan approached by Lucknow franchise; PBKS, SRH lodge complaints
KL Rahul (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) skipper KL Rahul and Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) Rashid Khan have been approached by the Lucknow franchise ahead of the mega auctions. Earlier, the BCCI had given November 30 as a deadline to the existing 8 IPL franchises to submit their retention list. Lucknow, one of the new IPL teams have reportedly been in talks with Rahul and Rashid to play for them in IPL 2022.
A BCCI official confirmed that PBKS and SRH have verbally lodged a complaint against Lucknow for approaching the players. The official further opined that legal action will be taken if it the reports are found true.
“We haven’t received any letter but we have received a verbal complaint from two franchises about players poaching by Lucknow team. We are looking into it, and we will take appropriate action if it proves to be true,” said a BCCI official according to Inside Sport.
The official further added that it was wrong on Lucknow’s part if they had approached players. The new franchise will be allowed to pick a few players outside the auction but they can’t approach players until the retentions have been revealed.
The official added that the method deployed by Lucknow was not ideal. “We don’t want to disturb the balance. You cannot avoid such things when there is fierce competition. But it’s not fair to the existing teams when they are trying to balance everything,” concluded the BCCI official.
Earlier some reports stated that Rahul is likely to captain the Lucknow side. Meanwhile, Rashid wanted SRH to retain him as the first player ahead of the mega auctions. However, news has come that SRH has retained only Kane Williamson for the next three years.
