(Cricket news) The 15th edition of the IPL is going to be bigger than ever with a brand new format and two new teams. One of the new teams is Lucknow Super Giants which will be coached by Andy Flower with Vijay Dahiya as his deputy and Gautam Gambhir as a mentor. In the 3 draft picks, LSG went for KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi.
It was pretty clear that KL Rahul will be the captain and that too for the long term. Rahul captained Punjab Kings for 2 seasons and is also the vice captain of India in all formats. He is always talked about highly in a leadership perspective but is yet to prove it. In both the seasons where Rahul was captain, Punjab finished 6th. Some of his team selection calls were often subject to criticism. It is safe to say that Rahul hasn't had much success as a captain but he will be keen to prove his capability with a fresh start as the captain of LSG.
Lucknow had an incredible auction as they signed some quality players. Avesh Khan was their most expensive buy at 10 crore. The LSG squad has a lot of depth especially in the overseas department. What combination and personnel to go for will be Rahul's biggest headache. There are a few young players like Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Karan Sharma and Ayush Badoni who need to be developed for the future. Big things will be expected from Lucknow with the kind of talent they possess.
On a personal level, Rahul will definitely open the batting. With Quinton de Kock in the side he might give up wicket keeping duties because de Kock is a regular keeper while Rahul rarely keeps wickets nowadays but being the captain he might want that position to get better at DRS calls. His own form has never been an issue it's just his captaincy that will be under the scanner
Lucknow Super Giants full squad:
KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajput, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, Kyle Mayers.
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