IPL 2022: All you need to know about Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad team

Kem cho Ahmedabad 👋😊 pic.twitter.com/ZsuaX6PADY

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) January 22, 2022

Discarded India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to lead the Ahmedabad franchise for the season. The other two players who were picked by the Afghanistan Ahmedabad franchise are Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan and youngster Shubman Gill.

The Ahmedabad franchise was bought last October by CVC Capital Partners (Irelia Company Pte Ltd).

Hardik Pandya has roped in for Rs 15 crore, Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan has also been drafted for Rs 15 crore. Former Kolkatta Knight Riders opener Shubman Gill was named as Ahmedabad’s third draft pick for Rs 8 crore.

Team owner, Dr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman @rpsggroup unveils the name for the Lucknow IPL team. 😊👏🏼#LucknowSuperGiants #NaamBanaoNaamKamao #IPL2022 @IPL @BCCI @GautamGambhir @klrahul11 pic.twitter.com/TvGaZlIgFR

— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) January 24, 2022

On the other hand, the Lucknow Super Giants, owned by RPSG Group, has picked KL Rahul as their captain. Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Indian legspinner Ravi Bishnoi are the other two players.

KL Rahul, India’ stand-in skipper in the recently ODI series against South Africa was the first acquisition for the Lucknow franchise and was drafted for Rs 17 crore. Marcus Stoinis has been drafted for Rs 9.2 crore, while young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi gets Rs 4 crore.

KL vs Hardik

KL Rahul has led Punjab Kings in the IPL for the last two seasons, whereas Hardik has never led an IPL team in the past.

KL Rahul started his IPL journey with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. Rahul went to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, and was traded back to Royal Challengers in 2016 before the Punjab franchise (then Kings XI Punjab) bought him for a whopping Rs 11 crore in the 2018 auction.

It was a good ride, thank you for the love ❤️ see you on the other side 🙌🏻 @PunjabKingsIPL pic.twitter.com/fFKtlOqghR

— K L Rahul (@klrahul11) December 1, 2021

In his IPL career, KL has amassed 3273 runs in 94 matches, with a strike rate of 136.37, including two centuries and 27 half-centuries. With the last four seasons with the Punjab franchise, the right-handed batter scored 659, 593, 670 and 626 respectively.

Hardik’s rise from an uncapped player in 2015 to leading the IPL team is quite sensational. He was bought by Mumbai Indians for a mere Rs 10 lakh in the IPL 2015 auction. By 2018, he had established himself as the best allrounder in India and Mumbai duly retained him as their second pick at the auction that year, paying INR 11 crore. The four-time IPL winner, Hardik has played a total of 92 matches, hitting 1476 runs at a staggering strike rate of 153.91. He has picked up 42 wickets as well.

Coaching staffs

The Lucknow team had earlier appointed Andy Flower as head coach and Gautam Gambhir as the mentor ahead of next year’s IPL. Former wicketkeeper-batter Vijay Dahiya will be the assistant coach.

Flower was working with Punjab Kings as an assistant coach for the past two seasons, while Gautam Gambhir has led Kolkata Knight Riders to IPL triumph twice.

Vijay Dahiya has earlier worked as an assistant coach of two-time IPL winning Kolkata Knight Riders. He has also served as the talent scout for the Delhi Capitals, apart from coaching the Delhi Ranji team.

World Cup-winning former India coach Gary Kirsten will be the Ahmedabad franchise’s batting coach as well as team mentor. Former India pacer Ashish Nehra has been named as team’s bowling coach, while England opener of yesteryears Vikram Solanki is the ‘Director of Cricket’.

Nehra has earlier been a coach with Royal Challengers Bangalore where Kirsten was also involved for a couple of seasons. Both of them have had a long and fruitful working relationship since the time when Nehra was a player and Kirsten his national coach.

This is the second IPL franchise where the trio of Nehra, Kirsten and Solanki will work together: the previous instance was at Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Players Retained

Ahmedabad Players: Hardik Pandya (Captain) – Rs 15 crore, Rashid Khan – Rs 15 Crore, Shubman Gill – Rs 8 Crore

Lucknow Players: KL Rahul (Captain)- Rs 17 crore, Marcus Stoinis – Rs 9.2 crore, Ravi Bishnoi – Rs 4 crore

Purse remaining

Ahmedabad: Player purse remaining 52 crore
Lucknow: Player purse remaining 59.8 crore