Lucknow Super Giants assistant coach Lance Klusener tried to tone down the controversial public outburst of franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka on skipper KL Rahul after their humiliating defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The video of the incident went online on social media, where Goenka was seen having an animated chat with Rahul, which fans and critics didn't like.

The reports also suggested that LSG might not retain Rahul for the next season but Klusener denied the rumours and said that there has been "certainly no discussions around" the matter.

"I don't see any problem with some robust discussion between two cricket lovers. So for us, I guess it's just a storm in a teacup. We love a robust discussion. I think that's how teams get better. So, it's not a big thing for us," the South African said during the pre-match press conference.

Meanwhile, Rahul failed to get picked in India's squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 after a sluggish show in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. Rahul has been playing as an opener for LSG this season and scored 460 runs thus far but his strike rate of 136.09 has become a big area of concern for him.

Klusener, however, came in support of the wicketkeeper batter and said that he has always been under the pump while batting as the wickets kept tumbling from the other end. 

"KL has got his own unique style which has made him a fantastic player and respected around the world. I think this IPL has been exceptionally tough for him because we've kept losing wickets at stages which hasn't allowed him to kick on where he likes. He probably feels like he's always having to rebuild.

"I think as a batting unit around KL, we haven't been as good as we should. It's just been extremely tough conditions for him. That's something we've chatted about as well -- we've just kept losing wickets at tough times."

However, Klusener has backed Rahul to play a big knock in the coming catches which are going to be crucial for LSG to make it to the playoffs.

"Then batters coming in, seem to have to be rebuilding the whole time and not just coming into a platform. So, I think by KL's standards, he probably would have liked to have kicked on in a few more games.

"Probably (he) would have liked to have at least one or two hundreds that haven't worked out for him. But there's still a couple of games left. He's in a good space. So, we've got our fingers crossed again for him," he said.

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