KL Rahul will become the most expensive player in cricket

KL Rahul, the captain of Team India, is expected to leave his current Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Punjab Kings after being offered a Rs 20 crore contract to join a new team from Lucknow. Earlier this year, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) Group purchased the IPL's Lucknow franchise for Rs 7,000 crore.

Rahul is one of the top Indian players expected to be released by their respective franchises, resulting in a bidding war at the January 2022 super auction. The old eight teams are limited to four retentions apiece, but the two new clubs, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, are each allowed to select three players from the pool of non-retained players. Rahul is said to be in talks with the Lucknow franchise and would not be included in the auction pool.

According to reports, the Lucknow franchise has given Team India's T20 vice-captain a hefty pay. According to the website Insidesport.in, Rahul has been promised more than Rs 20 crore by the RPSG company. If this is correct, Karnataka opener KL Rahul will become the most expensive player in IPL history.

Virat Kohli, who stood down as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore after the IPL 2021 season, reportedly received the highest salary, reportedly Rs 17 crore from the 2018 to 2021 season.

If Rahul decides to stay at PBKS, he has the option of negotiating a higher salary than the defined slab of Rs 16 crore for the first-choice retained player, as the BCCI has stated in the rules that the franchise can pay retained players a higher salary and forfeit the same amount from their total purse.

However, Rahul appears unlikely to stay at the Punjab Kings, which are co-owned by Preity Zinta, after failing to lead the team to their first trophy in his two seasons as captain. Rahul had a fantastic season with the bat, scoring 626 runs in 13 games and finishing as the third-highest run-getter in the IPL 2021.

Rahul has played 94 matches in the IPL thus far, scoring 3,273 runs with a strike rate of over 41. If he joins the Lucknow franchise before the IPL 2022 season, he is likely to be the team's captain.