Sanjiv Goenka finally breaks silence on his verbal spat with KL Rahul; reveals inside details

Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka has spoken up about why his side performed poorly in IPL 2024.

LSG finished seventh in the IPL 2024 season with seven wins and seven defeats. They missed the playoffs spot just because of their poor net run rate.

Four teams finished with 14 points in the group stage but Royal Challengers Bengaluru were the only team to make it to the playoffs because of a superior net run rate. On the other hand, the Super Giants finished the lowest among these four teams.

LSG had Gautam Gambhir as their mentor during the first two seasons in 2022 and 2023.

However, Gambhir joined Kolkata Knight Riders as the mentor for IPL 2024 leaving LSG's post vacant. Recently, LSG appointed Zaheer Khan as their new mentor, thus finally filling up the position.

Also read: LSG to sign Rohit Sharma for INR 50 Crore? Sanjiv Goenka breaks silence on the historic bid

Sanjiv Goenka breaks silence on LSG's poor IPL 2024 campaign

Recently, Sanjiv Goenka revealed the reason for his side's disappointing IPL campaign in 2024. Goenka felt that the team missed proper guidance and input from the mentor which was the main reason behind their decline.

"We all learn from the mistakes. I think it's not only about strategic guidance and advice (from a mentor) but also inputs. It's about making players feel comfortable in their skin. They go out and express themselves, and do so with freedom and clarity. I think that is where we felt that we missed something last year," Sanjiv Goenka said to Cricbuzz.

"We lost that game to Hyderabad badly, then we lost to Delhi in a game which we could have won. In the game against Gujarat, we should have won with a better margin. We took it to the 20th over. Those are the situations for which we have nobody else to blame but ourselves. But we are here to improve. And we recognize that in sports you don't win every year. You cannot win every year and you cannot win every game. But as long as that attitude of winning is there and that attitude to improve from your losses and mistakes is there, I'm satisfied," Goenka further said.

LSG missed Gautam Gambhir in IPL 2024

LSG made it to the IPL playoffs in their first two seasons in 2022 and 2023 when Gautam Gambhir was their mentor. In 2024, they were looking good at one point but lost the plot in between a long tournament.

They missed the guidance of a good mentor who could have helped them keep calm in those situations.

On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders clinched the IPL 2024 title with Gautam Gambhir as their mentor. After winning the IPL, Gambhir joined Team India as the head coach.

LSG appointed Zaheer Khan as a mentor

The position of the mentor in LSG is not vacant now as Lucknow Super Giants have appointed Zaheer Khan as their new mentor. Zaheer has previous experience working in the coaching staff with Mumbai Indians.

After finishing his playing career in 2017, Zaheer served as the director of cricket operations at Mumbai Indians.

In 2022, he was promoted to the role of global head of cricket development at Mumbai Indians. During this time, he was actively involved in the scouting process of the franchise.

Zaheer brings loads of experience with him both as a player and as a part of the coaching staff. He has played for three IPL teams during his playing days, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, and Delhi Daredevils.

Zaheer played 100 IPL matches in which he picked up 102 wickets at an average of 27.27 and an economy rate of 7.59. He also served as the captain of Delhi Daredevils.