Cricket

IPL 2024 Auction Analysis, LSG: Lucknow Super Giants have a solid squad and one concern

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) entered the IPL 2024 Auction with a small purse and performed decently but failed to sort out one of their issues.

FirstCricket Staff December 20, 2023 07:34:26 IST

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) spent a total of Rs 12.2 crore at the IPL Auction 2024. BCCI image

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) haven’t been quite as successful as Gujarat Titans (GT) after making their debut two seasons back but two back-to-back playoffs qualification is an admirable thing. There, however, has been some churning at the franchise in recent times with mentor Gautam Gambhir leaving for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and coach Andy Flower joining Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Justin Langer is the new head coach and the franchise is expected to make a few changes in the way they deal with things.

IPL 2024 Auction: Full squads of ten teams, purse remaining and available slots

Let’s see how the IPL 2024 Auction buys are going to help.

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Pre-auction gaps

One of the first things they did after Langer came in was trading out pacer Avesh Khan for Devdutt Padikkal. Now Padikkal helps them solve the No. 3 batting slot problem which had been bothering the team for a while. But leaving out Avesh and releasing Daniel Sams and Jaydev Unadkat created a vacuum in the pace department. Also, the team lacked a proper finisher. They have Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya but consistency is not something you associate with these players.

The strengths

At the Auction, LSG splashed Rs 12.2 crore over six players with the biggest buy being Shivam Mavi at Rs 6.4 crore. Maybe they overpaid for Mavi but the supply of quality Indian bowlers is less and the demand is very high. With Mavi, David Willey and Arshad Khan, their pace bowling looks sorted. They have also added Ashton Turner who could be a replacement for Marcus Stoinis in some ways if required. Willey can bat as well. They spent over Rs 2 crore on left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth. Arshin Kulkarni is an opener. Overall, they have a solid squad now. They in fact were well sorted even before the auction.

The weaknesses

But the finishing is going to be a worry. They needed to add a quality Indian finisher to the fold to give ample support to Stoinis on that front LSG have done zero work in the auction. They will have to rely on the players they have from before to complete the job.

Best buy

None

Worst buy

Shivam Mavi: It’s not that the 25-year-old is LSG’s worst buy but the overall work by LSG to let go of Avesh Khan and then only manage to replace him with Mavi is probably not the best move. LSG could have gone harder for a pacer like Umesh Yadav and added Kartik Tyagi or Chetan Sakariya to their squad. Currently, they have placed all their bets on foreign pacers. The fact that they had a small purse also did not help.

LSG full squad: Amit Mishra, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal (T), K. Gowtham, KL Rahul, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Naveen Ul Haq, Nicholas Pooran, Prerak Mankad, Quinton De Kock, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Charak, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, Manimaran Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Arshad Khan

Players bought by LSG at IPL 2024 Auction: Shivam Mavi (Rs 6.40 crore), Arshin Kulkarni (Rs 20 lakh), Manimaran Siddharth (Rs 2.40 crore), Ashton Turner (Rs 1 crore), David Willey (Rs 2 crore), Arshad Khan (Rs 20 lakh)

LSG Retained Players: Amit Mishra, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal (T), K. Gowtham, KL Rahul, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Naveen Ul Haq, Nicholas Pooran, Prerak Mankad, Quinton De Kock, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Yudhvir Charak

LSG Released Players: Arpit Guleria, Daniel Sams, Jaydev Unadkat, Karan Sharma, Karun Nair, Manan Vohra, Suryansh Shegde, Swapnil Singh

Purse left: Rs 95 lakh

Overseas slots remaining: 0

Total available slots: 0