"I was so surprised by the reaction" - LSG head coach on reports of rift between KL Rahul and Sanjiv Goenka

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer recently reacted to the animated chat between the team's owner Sanjiv Goenka and captain KL Rahul after their embarrassing 10-wicket loss to SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Tuesday, May 14. Langer mentioned that he was surprised by the reaction to the video of the conversation.

He clarified that there was no rift between Rahul and Goenka. Langer joked about the reactions being the fifth surprise in his life, with the first four being the gender of his four children.

Speaking to RevSportz, here's what Langer said on the Rahul-Goenka saga:

"I was so surprised by the reaction. It was incredible. I thought about it a lot for the last four days. There are not very many surprises in my life. I have had four surprises in my life. They were the four sexes of my daughter, when they were born, because I had no idea. And they kept coming out. I said, ‘It’s a girl’. Four girls but we didn’t know. It was a great surprise, as we did not know. When I saw the reaction the other night, it was the fifth surprise of my life."

The video of Sanjiv Goenka's chat with KL Rahul went viral on social media. Many fans speculated that the LSG owner was visibly upset with the team's performance as Hyderabad chased down the 166-run target in just 9.4 overs.

However, all seems to be fine between the two, as Rahul attended a special dinner at Goenka's residence ahead of the team's recently concluded IPL 2024 encounter against Delhi Capitals (DC).

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"They are the calmest and most peaceful men on the planet" - Justin Langer on KL Rahul and Sanjiv Goenka

Justin Langer disclosed that the conversation between KL Rahul and Sanjiv Goenka after their loss to Hyderabad revolved around what the side did wrong in the encounter.

He also suggested that both Rahul and Goenka are very calm individuals, and it is unlikely that they would get involved in a heated argument. The cricketer-turned-coach, however, remarked that he was initially surprised by the animated chat.

"Anyone who knows Mr Goenka or KL Rahul knows they are the calmest and most peaceful men on the planet. When I saw there were some arms going about, I thought, ‘Woah, I have never seen this before.’ When I listened to the conversation, it was just about where our plan went wrong in the game, and it went wrong," Langer elaborated.

"That is the funny thing about the aftermath of what happened. No one knew what was said. I am so surprised by the birth of my daughters because it was all about the plan of our game and where it went wrong. It was just cricket talk. We are just laughing about it, and it has been such an awesome relationship between Mr Goenka, his son, KL, and myself," he added.

Meanwhile, LSG suffered a 19-run loss in their crucial encounter against DC on Tuesday, May 14. They are currently placed seventh in the points table with six wins from 13 games.

The KL Rahul-led side will next take on Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday, May 17, in their final league match of the season.