IPL 2022: KL Rahul wanted to go into the auction, reveals Punjab Kings head coach Anil Kumble

According to reports, KL Rahul is being pursued by Lucknow franchise and offered salary in the range of Rs 20 crore to become the captain of the new team. 

Punjab Kings desperately wanted to hold on to their skipper KL Rahul but the Team India T20 vice-captain had other plans for India Premier League (IPL) 2022. Rahul was expectedly not part of PBKS list of retained cricketers after IPL 2022 Player Retention deadline on Tuesday (November 30) as the Karnataka opener has chosen to go into the mega auction pool.

According to reports, Rahul is being pursued by Lucknow franchise and offered salary in the range of Rs 20 crore to become the captain of the new team. There are also reports that Rahul and Rashid Khan might face IPL bans for being in contact with other franchises ahead of Retention day.

Following the retention announcement, Anil Kumble, the director of cricket operations of PBKS, revealed that the franchise wanted to retain Rahul but he moved on. “Obviously we wanted to retain him, that is one of the reasons we chose him as captain two years back. But he decided to go into the auction. We respect that, we honour his decision. It’s the player’s prerogative,” Kumble told Star Sports.