New Delhi: Scenes of Lucknow Supergiants (LSG) owner Sanjeev Goenka talking to his former captain. KL Rahul On the boundary ropes during IPL 2024, and then to the current captain Rishabh Pant The defeats in IPL 2025 have gone viral and have not gone down well with the fans. There has been a lot of chatter among cricket followers regarding Goenka’s tough attitude, with many believing that he demands strong results from his team.However, LSG’s star pacer Muhammad Shami Defending the owner, Goenka is passionate about cricket and communicates well with the players.Shami, who is set to make his LSG Colors debut against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday at the Ekna Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, said it is only natural that one who invests heavily in a team has high expectations.
“Jitni Meri Millat hoi hai, 2-3 meetings with him so far. Talked to him very well, talked about logic, talked about the team, and look, any human being – it’s up to you to make the team”. Lia charges such a large amount, so it is normal to have high expectations, and it is justified. [I’ve met him a few times — around two or three times so far. He has always spoken very well, very logically, and the conversations have been around the team. Look, anyone who invests so much money into building a team will naturally have high expectations. That’s completely normal, and it’s justified]Shami said in a podcast with Shubhankar Mishra.LSG made the playoffs in their first two seasons in 2022 and 2023, but suffered disappointing campaigns in 2024 and 2025, failing to qualify for the playoffs.“So if Goenka ji owns it for us, there is nothing wrong. If you expect my player to do this, my player to do it best, then we have nothing wrong. A lot of mine have been made up, a lot of things have been made up that are not true. Why do you bring a common man – put 5000 rupees in something, my heart beats 10 times so that my 5000 does not go away, only 10 thousand does not go away. [So if Goenka ji is that possessive about his team, there’s nothing wrong with it. If he expects his players to perform and deliver their best, there’s no harm in that. There have been a lot of memes and a lot of things going around that aren’t right. If you take a normal person — even if they invest Rs 5000 in something, their heart skips a beat thinking their money might be lost]” Pacer added.The veteran fast bowler has played 119 IPL matches so far and has taken 133 wickets in his career.Shami, who was bought by LSG for Rs 10 crore, said he has always had a positive experience interacting with Goenka. Over the years, he has represented several franchises, including Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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Do you think Sanjiv Goenka’s expectations from the players are justified?
“A man sitting on such a large sum of money, will expect everything. You will expect from each of us a little something that will give us pleasure – and that thing will go, if we want to talk to you, we don’t want to talk.” If Wu wants to argue, you should argue with Hum Tarik. Too open in the two-man thing. I spoke to Goenka ji in Jitani too, I enjoyed talking to him – the way I spoke to him, the way I spoke to him. [When someone has invested such a huge amount, they will expect everything. They will expect even the smallest things that give them happiness — and that is justified. If someone wants to talk to you, you should talk. If they want to discuss something, you should engage in that discussion properly. I’m very open about these things. Whatever conversations I’ve had with Goenka ji, I’ve really liked them — the way he speaks, the clarity with which he communicates]” he said.“But look, something happens somewhere. There are captains where you get disappointed, there are players where you get disappointed sometimes. So if something happens and somebody is expecting, it’s all drama, which is with us, which is with us.” Memes are made — all these things sometimes become unnecessary. [But look, somewhere or the other, things do happen. There are times when even a captain gets frustrated, and there are times when players feel frustrated too. So if something happens and expectations are involved, then all the drama and memes that follow — sometimes they just become unnecessary]said the Indian fast bowler.
