IPL 2024 Auction: KL Rahul and Co.’s target players for the Lucknow Super Giants

One of the newest teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), is preparing for the IPL 2024 auction to bolster a team that looks to be quite strong now. After hiring former Australian cricket player Justin Langer as their head coach in July of this year, the squad will enter bidding wars in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 19. LSG has performed admirably considering their recent league debut; in their two prior seasons, they made it to the playoffs.

Despite the absence of their skipper, KL Rahul, from the IPL 2023 due to injury, the team persevered and qualified for the playoffs.

LSG has maintained a strong core of players, keeping 19 of them, demonstrating their faith in their current group. As a result, they have the lowest salary of any organisation at INR 13.5 crore.

The UP-based squad is prepared to make smart additions to supplement their current lineup in the next auction, with six spots still unfilled—two of which are for foreign players to compete in the IPL 2024.

LSG’s plan for the 2024 IPL auction

Having retained the majority of their 2023 squad, LSG appears to be a solid group. With KL Rahul as captain, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, and Marcus Stoinis in the batting lineup, they have the firepower to win this time.

Although KL Rahul suffered a regrettable injury in the middle of the previous season, the squad managed to get through because of timely seasons from Marcus Stoinis (408), Kyle Mayers (379), and Nicholas Pooran (358).

LSG should keep an eye on Mitchell Starc of Australia, Josh Hazlewood, Lockie Ferguson of New Zealand, and Gerald Coetzee of South Africa, who showed off his raw pace at the 2023 ODI World Cup.

In the event of an unexpected circumstance, LSG can also bolster their bench with a bit more firepower. An Indian pacer like Kartik Tyagi, Shivam Mavi, Chetan Sakariya, or Yash Dayal is an option available to the management.

The two best choices for the side will be Chennai’s Shahrukh Khan and Daryl Mitchell of New Zealand. But given his stellar World Cup campaign, there should be no shortage of interest in the latter. For the Kiwis, Mitchell smashed two tonnes and two fifties in nine innings of scoring 552 runs.