IPL Auction: The newfangled franchise of Lucknow Super Giants made its Indian Premier League (IPL) debut in 2022 and in their inaugural season, the KL Rahul-led side finished 3rd on the points table after claiming 9 victories in league 14 matches.
The RPSG Group-owned franchise flourished till the playoffs before the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore hindered their ploys of outstretching to finals. Even though Lucknow’s season was a tad lopsided, they had an enterprising maiden season in the IPL.
In contemplation to forge a reformed squad, Lucknow Super Giants released 7 players ahead of the IPL mini-auction 2023, which included some prominent names such as Andrew Tye, Manish Pandey, and Jason Holder.
Complete List of Players released by Luckow: Jason Holder (INR 8.75 crore), Manish Pandey (INR 4.6 crore), Dushmantha Chameera (INR 2 crore), Evin Lewis (INR 2 crore Andrew Tye (INR 1 crore), Ankit Rajpoot (INR 50 lakh), Shahbaz Nadeem (INR 50 lakh)
With their primary assets being retained, and a remaining purse of 23.35 Crore, Lucknow Super Giants would consider bridging several shortcomings they sustained in the previous season. Mentioned below is the list of players Lucknow Super Giants can draw a bid on:
Kane Williamson
The New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson made his IPL debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad way back in 2015, and since then he has been a formidable part of the 2016 IPL champions. Holding a remarkable experience of 74 innings across 8 seasons, the right-handed Kane Williamson has orchestrated 2,097 runs in the IPL at an average of 36.5, which includes 17 half-centuries to his credit.
After maneuvering the Hyderabad-based franchise for eight seasons, Kane Williamson has been released by the franchise for the first time and unchained 14 crores. Kane Williamson had a scratchy last season with Hyderabad, where he only secured 216 runs in 12 innings and at an average of 19.6.
Despite his appalling last season, Kane Williamson can bring a sense of resurgence in the Lucknow Super Giants camp and pilot their middle order; a facet at which Manish Pandey dwindled last season.
With South African Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul spearheading the innings, Kane Williamson can deftly take up the number 3 assignment, and ballast their batting order with heavy hitters such as Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, and Ayush Badoni to follow.
Reece Topley
The death bowling from the previous season was another predicament for Lucknow Super Giants. Barring Mohsin Khan, no other bowler safeguarded the flow of runs.
To elucidate, Sri Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera delivered 10 overs the previous year from the 16-20 overs segment and dispersed a whole lot of 111 runs by claiming only 2 wickets. Similarly, Jason Holder also rendered 15 overs in the death previous season by aggregating only 7 wickets at an economy of 10.47.
To untangle their death bowling plight, Lucknow Super Giants can rope in England pacer Reece Topley, who is going through a purple patch in his career. The left-arm-fast-medium bowler had propelled 10 innings in death in 2022, claiming 13 wickets with a strike rate of 6.9.
Prerak Mankad
The Saurashtra all-rounder Prerak Mankad can confer a cushion for Lucknow in the middle order and could serve as a like-for-like replacement for all-rounders like Krunal Pandya or Krishnappa Gowtham.
The right-handed Mankad won the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently with Saurashtra and was the seventh-highest run-scorer in the tournament by stitching 376 runs in 7 innings with an average of 94 and a strike rate of over 110.
Mankad was impactful with the ball as well, capturing six wickets with a 4.27 economy rate. His recent pyrotechnics at the Vijay Hazare Trophy had raised many eyebrows and an IPL contract for the youngster could be imminent.
Current Lucknow Super Giants Squad:
KL Rahul (C), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi.
