IPL 2024 Trade Window: Lucknow Super Giants Trade Avesh Khan To Rajasthan Royals For Devdutt Padikkal In Straight Swap

IPL 2024 Trade Window: Lucknow Super Giants have traded pacer Avesh Khan for Rajasthan Royals opener Devdutt Padikkal ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, which is scheduled to be held on December 19 in Dubai, UAE.

Earlier reports suggested that, LSG and RR have made a straight swap for the pacer Avesh Khan and opening batter Padikkal just days before the franchises reveal their retained and released players list ahead of the the auction.

ESPNcricinfo reported that the franchises and players agreed on the trade in the past week with the BCCI set to approve the transfer this week. And with the deal being confirmed, it means good business for both franchises.

In the 2022 mega auction, Avesh was bought by Super Giants for INR 10 crore, while Royals paid INR 7.75 crore for Padikkal. Both the players, who are set to play for their third IP team, were retained by their respective franchises this year.

Padikkal came to the limelight during his stint with Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2019-2021, but rarely got to bat in the opening slot at Royals, who already had Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler as number one choices.

Padikkal will now compete with KL Rahul, Kyle Mayers and Quinton de Kock for an opening slot in LSG if they decide to retain all the other three, but there are rumours that the Lucknow-based franchise might release one of their openers.

The 23-year-old Karnataka opener has so far scored 1521 runs in 57 IPL Matches at an average of 27.65 with 9 fifties and one century at strike rate of 125.39.

Avesh, on the other hand, made a name for himself with good bowling in all three periods of play - powerplay, middle overs and the death, during his stint with Delhi Capitals. He, however, struggled for form at LSG due to injuries.

The Madhya Pradesh pacer, who is part of the Indian team that takes on Australia in the upcoming 5-match T20I series, has so far 55 wickets in 47 matches at an economy rate of 8.63. The 26-year-old will contend for a spot in the playing 11 with Prasidh Krishna, KS Asif, Kuldeep Sen and Navdeep Saini.

This will be the second trade of the window, but the first involving a player in exchange as Mumbai Indians had traded West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd from LSG as straight trade with no player going the other way.