'If he goes to the auction, he will get Rs 18 crore' - Aakash Chopra tips KL Rahul to bag grand deal

With the player regulations already out a few days back, the wait for the mega-auction is getting even more exciting. Notably, October 31 has been marked as the deadline for the franchises to finalize their retentions for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League, adding to the thrill.

Former India batter, Aakash Chopra, in a recent discussion, discussed skipper of the Lucknow Super Giants, KL Rahul's prospects. He also suggested that contrary to a lot of people opining LSG to exclude Rahul from their roster, he should be kept intact.

"First is KL Rahul. He is the face of the franchise and you would want to make him the captain. You are not going to get him for Rs 18 crore. Let's be honest, if he goes to the auction, he will get Rs 18 crore. Anyways, you never leave the captain. For continuity, that is important," said Chopra on his official YouTube channel.

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LSG would want to retain Mayank Yadav

The ex-Kolkata Knight Riders player also discussed the case of tearaway speedster, Mayank Yadav. He also suggested why LSG would have to acquire him via using the Right To Match card instead of directly retaining him. While Rahul has had a couple of seasons out of the three at LSG where he has breached the 500-run mark (616 runs in IPL 2022 and 520 runs in IPL 2024), a lot of experts have criticized him for playing "selfishly", pointing out his moderate strike-rate as one of the main indicators.

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"They would have definitely wanted to retain him (Mayank Yadav) but if he gets the India cap, there is no advantage of retaining him. You can use the Right To Match card," Chopra concluded.

However, there is no denying that Rahul's leadership would be something which LSG would not want to get rid of. Furthermore, he has all the potential in him to play as dynamically as any of the other classical T20I batters going around.