IPL 2022 Rumours: Lucknow team eyes these 3 big players from the draft

Lucknow, January 11: The IPL 2022 player draft deadline is on January 31 and the new Lucknow team is making all the groundwork to pick three players from the released pool of cricketers.

The grapevine is that the Lucknow team, owned by RP Sanjeev Goenka, is already in talks with KL Rahul for the captain role and the parleys are in an advanced stage. Rahul was not retained by the Punjab Kings ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction to be held in February.

They are also looking to pick some prized players from the auction. Though Rashid Khan was also in the list of Lucknow, they might just not push for him as there is strong contention from the Ahmedabad outfit, the other new inductee into the IPL 2022.

And there is also the financial constrain of roping in two high-profile players at the same time.

So, they might opt for Yuzvendra Chahal, a very handy proposition in the IPL just like the Afghan cricketer.

Chahal was not retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the auction despite being their warhead for many seasons in the IPL.

The two new teams can also pick one foreign player from the available pool and the Lucknow team might just use that option and they have South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabda in their radar.

Rabada has been in fine form in the ongoing Test series against India and the ODI series too follows closely. He is a handy lower order batsman too who can contribute some swift runs and it will hardly matter that KG had a rather underwhelming IPL 2021 for the Delhi side.

Rabada was not retained by the Delhi Capitals as they opted to retain his compatriot Anrich Nortje, who had a very fine IPL 2021.

All-rounder option?

The Lucknow team are also considering the option of drafting another Delhi player — Marcus Stoinis, who was released but since then had a good outing in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 for Australia.

Stoinis gives them a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and a very handy bowler who can make impact in the middle overs of a match. But Rabada will be their first choice and if the deal does not come through then they will eye the Aussie.

Records

KL Rahul: He has played 94 IPL matches and has made 3273 runs at 47.43 with 2 hundreds and 23 fifties. His strike-rate is a healthy 136.

Yuzvendra Chahal: The leg-spinner has played 114 IPL matches and has taken 139 wickets at an Economy of 7.5. But he can be a game changer in given point of the match and that wide bandwidth makes him a prized player.

Kagiso Rabada: The SA pacer has taken 76 wickets from 50 matches at an economy of 8.2 and he can chip in with big wickets and poses a threat at any stage of the game.

Marcus Stoinis: The Australian all-rounder has grabbed 30 wickets from 56 matches at an economy of 9.5. He has made 914 runs from those matches at 27.69 and his strike-rate is an impressive 135 with 4 fifties.