Is KL Rahul the Lucknow IPL team captain? Here's everything we know so far

The IPL 2022 season will be a 10-team affair with Lucknow and Ahmedabad being the two new franchisees in the cash-rich league. While the Lucknow IPL franchise brought by RPSG group is yet to reveal its team name, reports have emerged that the new IPL 2022 franchise is set to unveil its new captain, coach and title sponsor for the forthcoming season. 

Lucknow IPL team: Is KL Rahul the new captain?

The Lucknow franchise and Ahmedabad franchise were given a deadline to finalise three signings by December 25, however, it looks like to signing will be put on hold following the latest statement from a BCCI source. A report published by Insidesport stated that the Lucknow IPL team is set to unveil KL Rahul as its new skipper, with former Punjab Kings assistant coach Andy Flower set to be named as the head coach.

KL Rahul was not retained by Punjab Kings ahead of IPL 2022 despite scoring plenty of runs for the team in the past two seasons. However, before the Lucknow IPL Franchise could unveil KL Rahul as the skipper, a BCCI official, while speaking to the publication, said that the Lucknow franchise has been asked to hold on to any signing or announcement. He said,

"Even Lucknow IPL team will not do any signing or announcement till the matter of Ahmedabad franchise is not sorted. We will give equal time to both sides to complete 3 signings before auctions and for other requisities."

Has the Lucknow IPL team finally signed KL Rahul?

While there is no official word over how much money the Lucknow IPL franchise will pay KL Rahul to sign for them, recent reports had said that the franchise reportedly offered in excess of Rs 20 crore before the IPL 2022 retention. The franchise also extended a Rs 16 crore offer to Rashid Khan of Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

Back then, both Punjab Kings and SUnrisers Hyderbad had raised a complaint to BCCI about the RPSG Group-backed Lucknow franchise for 'pursuing & poaching' KL Rahul. 

As per reports, a BCCI source while speaking about the complaint said, "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. 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."