Lucknow Super Giants' set to release captain KL Rahul, only 3 players including one overseas in franchise's plans before deadline

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are unlikely to retain their captain KL Rahul, months after he failed to lead the franchise into Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs. Rahul will be one of the senior Indian batters in the upcoming IPL mega auction. 

Sports Tak has learnt that three players are in LSG’s retention retentions. West Indies’ wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran who was also stand-in captain in one match in the previous edition is set to be retained for a hefty sum. 

The other two retentions are bowlers. LSG’s find, pace sensation Mayank Yadav is set to get a major deal. Since Mayank made his T20I debut against Bangladesh, LSG may retain him for either Rs 14 or Rs 11 crore. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi is set to be retained as well. Bishnoi will get a massive increase in his paycheck as he earlier got Rs 4 crore as an uncapped player. The deadline to submit the list of retained players is October 31.

Mayank played just four games for LSG in the previous edition before getting injured. He bagged seven wickets and made batters like Cameron Green look clueless in front of his raw pace. He often clocked over 155 kmph. However, his pace dipped in the T20I series against Bangladesh and did not cross the 150kmph mark.

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Former world no.1 T20I bowler Bishnoi was not too impressive in the previous season as he claimed 10 wickets from 14 appearances.

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Probable uncappled player retention

LSG also have a choice of retaining either Ayush Badoni or Mohsin Khan for Rs 4 crore as they come in uncapped player category. Arshin Kulkarni is another candidate to be retained as uncapped player. Investing in Mohsin may be a safe bet for LSG as local left-arm pacers are rare commodities as franchises tend to splurge more on them in the mega auction. 

LSG IPL 2024 full squad –

KL Rahul(w/c), Arshin Kulkarni, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Ashton Turner, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Mohsin Khan, Manimaran Siddharth, Krishnappa Gowtham, Devdutt Padikkal, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Quinton de Kock, Matt Henry, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Shamar Joseph