The two-day affair of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) mega auction ended on Sunday (February 13), where franchisees left no stone unturned to rope in the best player possible in their respective teams. The newly added Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team also gave it all to make a decent team to compete for the coveted trophy. LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka expressed great satisfaction at the assembling of a multi-faceted in the auction.
The KL Rahul-led Lucknow had an excellent first day on the IPL public sale, most likely the most effective amongst all franchises, and adopted it up on Sunday with the helpful Rs 2 crore buy of pacer Dushmantha Chameera and opener Evin Lewis. There have been another helpful buys like spin-bowling allrounder K. Gowtham.
“We are very happy. I’m glad we seem to have a well-considered, versatile squad. We wanted to have a lot of multi-skilled, multi-dimensional players and some backup options and we could pull it off,” RPSG Group chairman and franchise proprietor Sanjiv Goenka told Times of India.
“Even though we had all plans in place, there was a lot of thinking on our feet involved. We got a great opener in Quinton (de Kock). We have a very good allrounder in Jason Holder. In Rahul and Manish Pandey we have two solid Indian batsmen,” he added.
Lucknow now have a slew of allround choices, together with the retained Marcus Stoinis. In a brand new pattern, spin-bowling allrounders like Krunal Pandya (Rs 8. 25 crore) and Deepak Hooda (Rs 5. 75 crore) have been a lot in demand. Flower, nonetheless, insisted Lucknow had not consciously created the pattern, regardless that they appear to have factored within the sporting pitches within the second half of the season.
“I wouldn’t blanket-value one type of cricketer with the value of another type,” Flower stated. “In Krunal’s case, we targeted the individual. He has loads of IPL experience, is a very useful spin option and can bat at No. 5. It was a first for me, planning with Gautam Gambhir (team mentor), Vijay Dahiya (assistant coach) and KL (Rahul). I’m glad all the planning was on point,” Goenka said.
Goenka stated, “In the auction, it was a conscious effort to go for spinners, particularly multi-utility spinners. That’s also worked out well. The team looks balanced.”
The franchise additionally bagged speedster Avesh Khan for Rs 10 crore to associate England pacer Wood.
“I’m pleased with the addition of a long-term prospect like Avesh,” stated coach Andy Flower.
“He is a super performer. He is fast, has a good slower ball and lots of variations,” he further added.
Luckily for Lucknow, the injury-prone Wood is anticipated to be out there for a big a part of the season, that means a formidable new-ball pairing.
Lucknow Super Giants' picks in IPL auction 2022:
Quinton de Kock – Rs 6.75 Crore
Manish Pandey – Rs 4.60 Crore
Jason Holder – Rs 8.75 Crore
Deepak Hooda – Rs 5.75 Crore
Krunal Pandya – Rs 8.25 Crore
Mark Wood – Rs 7.50 Crore
Avesh Khan – Rs 10 Crore
Ankit Rajpoot – Rs 50 Lakh
K Gowtham - Rs 90 lakh
Dushmantha Chameera- Rs 2 crore
Shahbaz Nadeem- Rs 50 lakh
Manan Vohra- Rs 20 lakh
Mohsin Khan- Rs 20 lakh
Ayush Badoni- Rs 20 lakh
Kyle Mayers- Rs 50 lakh
Karan Sharma- Rs 20 lakh
Evin Lewis- Rs 2 crore
Mayank Yadav- Rs 20 lakh
