Lucknow Super Giant owner Sanjiv Goenka mentioned his time with the Rising Pune Supergiant, MS Dhoni and Steve Smith to indirectly blame captain KL Rahul and the team management for LSG's poor decision-making in IPL 2024. After making the playoffs for the first two seasons, LSG slipped to the seventh spot in the last edition, sparking speculations of KL Rahul's release from the franchise. Goenka and Rahul have had several meetings since then, but a consensus has yet to be reached.

Amid all this, LSG unveiled Zaheer Khan as their mentor. The former India pacer will take over the spot left vacant by Gautam Gambhir ahead of IPL 2024.

Goenka felt LSG lacked an Indian brain like Gambhir in the last season to help them make crucial calls in crunch situations.

"Last year, I felt that an Indian mind, you can call him a mentor or anything, who has that fierce desire to win, was lacking a bit. Zaheer, even when, he was a player was very determined to win. That was his only aim. I want that," he told Sports Tak.

A video of his animated discussion with captain KL Rahul following LSG's defeat to SRH this year, went viral. Without naming Rahul or the leadership group, Goenka dropped strong hints that he was not satisfied by the team management's reasons for their poor show in the 17th edition.

"I am not satisfied if someone comes and tells me we played badly today. Then, repeats the same thing the next two days. So I will ask him ‘why?’ One player can be off-form, but XI players cannot be off-form every day. The decision-making role that Zaheer can play. The role that Gautam played was lacking last season. So my expectation from Zaheer is to work on that decision-making," he said.

Goenka brings Dhoni, Smith and RPS history to talk about goals for LSG

This is the second time that Goenka has owned an IPL team. His RPSG group owned Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2016 and 2017 when BCCI wanted two new franchises for two years to replace Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.

In the first year, the team was led by MS Dhoni but he was removed as captain before the next season and replaced by Smith. The decision RPS reached the finals of IPL 2027 but failed to chase down 130 against Mumbai Indians, despite being in a commanding position till the halfway stage.

Goenka said it was due to the team's inexperience. "The Super Giants family has been in the IPL for five years. Two of those were with Pune, and three were with Lucknow. When we reached the finals with Pune, it was a new and inexperienced team. You leave out Steve Smith and MS Dhoni, we didn't have much experience in the team," he said

"We were about to win the final, but due to our lack of experience, we lost. So making the right calls in those crunch moments is key."

Goenka's no experience in the team, barring Dhoni and Smith, however, is not true as RPS had the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Dan Christian and Jaydev Unadkat in their ranks in the final.

"Mumbai have a habit of winning. Everyone should emulate their never-say-die attitude. It was Pune's match to win but they lost it by themselves because of the pressure applied by Mumbai. This attitude needs to be there in Lucknow. Otherwise, we would never win. We have to be confident in ourselves," he said.