Lucknow, Aug 27 : Star wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul.is set to be retained by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season 2025, but not as a captain.

IANS understands that the captaincy pressure is the main reason for Rahul stepping down from the role as he wants to contribute more with the bat. However, it remains uncertain who will be leading the team in the upcoming edition of IPL 2025.

Sources close to the Lucknow franchise confirmed that Rahul will be retained but the captaincy role remains uncertain; Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran are the two big names that are in the race.

'The meeting was official with the CEO Sanjiv Goenka on Monday, the captaincy and retention topics were discussed. However, Rahul is unlikely to captain the side in the upcoming edition as he wants to explore himself more as a batter. Goenka has full confidence in Rahul and he will be retained as a player, but will not be seen captaining the side,' sources close to the Lucknow-based franchise told IANS.

'We are still exploring the captaincy option but with BCCI agreeing on player retention conditions we have two players (Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Porin) in race,' he added.

On Monday Rahul met Goenka at his office in Alipore, Kolkata to discuss things. Both had a long discussion for around four hours after which Rahul left for Bengaluru, National Cricket Academy to start his Duleep Trophy practice.

Rahul will be playing for Team 'A' captained by Shubman Gill.

Rahul had a falling out with LSG owner Goenka in full view of the fans with sources saying that the LSG owner was not happy with Rahul's captaincy as the Lucknow Super Giants failed to qualify for the playoffs after being in a good position. After the IPL, Rahul did not play well and was not included in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup that India won in Barbados. He is hoping to make it to the Indian T20 squad.

/IANS