A day after a crushing defeat against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, which resulted in owner Sanjiv Goenka giving a mouthful to him in front of cameras, it has now come to light that KL Rahul might step down as captain of Lucknow Super Giants for their last two league games of IPL 2024. LSG, who were well and truly in the race to the playoffs - they still are - suddenly see a dead end after back-to-back daunting defeats, first to KKR and then to SRH on Wednesday.

On a pitch where LSG's batters scored at less than six runs an over in the first 10 overs, SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma smashed 167 in 9.4 overs to finish off the match. The helpless nature of LSG players was on full display, and if reports are to believe that captain Rahul is likely to take the fall for it.

News agency PTI reported that Rahul, who was roped in before the auction in 2022 for a record ₹17 crore, is unlikely to be retained before the mega auctions in 2025. However, there is speculation that the skipper might step down on his own and concentrate on batting during the next two games.

"There is a five-day gap before the next game against DC. As of now, no decision has been taken but it is understood that if Rahul plans to just concentrate on his batting for the remaining two games, the management won't mind," an IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Notably, Goenka was the owner of the Rising Pune Supergiants when they sacked MS Dhoni as captain and appointed Steve Smith in their second season.

LSG are still mathematically in contention as they can reach 16 points by winning their remaining two games -- vs Delhi Capitals in New Delhi on May 14 and vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede on May 17.

However, it will be challenging to improve upon the net run-rate (-0.760) massively.

In case Rahul decides to step down, vice-captain Nicholas Pooran, easily the team's most impactful batter in the season, is likely to take over for the remaining two games.

Videos of LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka's agitated conversation with Rahul emerged on social media after SRH openers Head (89 not out off 30 balls) and Abhishek (75 off 28 balls) made a mockery of their bowlers.

Comparing others to the freakish Head and Abhishek partnership might not be the best thing to do but Rahul faced more balls than both the SRH batters and ended up scoring only 29 runs at a strike rate of 87 with only one four and a six.

Like every year, Rahul has been amongst the runs but his strike rate has once again been an issue. Among the top-10 batters of the Orange Cap list, Rahul, who has amassed 430 runs in 12 matches, has the second-worst strike rate (136). The lack of intent he shows while opening the batting in T20s, is also one of the primary reasons why he has not been considered for the Indian T20I side since the World Cup in 2022.

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