IPL 2025 auction: How do Lucknow Super Giants stack up?
Lucknow Super Giants took some bold calls in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over two days. The Super Giants, one of the two franchises introduced in 2022, made the historic signing of Rishabh Pant after parting ways with KL Rahul. The Sanjiv Goenka-led LSG group now have a line-up studded with stars. Here we analyze the same.
24 players (6 overseas)
Retained Players: Nicholas Pooran (₹21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (₹11 crore), Mayank Yadav (₹11 crore), Mohsin Khan (₹4 crore), and Ayush Badoni (₹4 crore). Rest of squad: Aiden Markram, David Miller, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Rishabh Pant, Aryan Juyal, Adbul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, M Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav.
Pant set to lead LSG
LSG bought Pant for a massive ₹27 crore, making him the most expensive player in IPL history. While Delhi Capitals used the Right To Match card for Pant at ₹23.5 crore, LSG upped the bid to ₹27 crore and sealed the deal. Pant surpassed Shreyas Iyer's value of ₹26.75 crore from the mega auction. The former likely to lead the Super Giants.
Balanced attack; lack of specialist opener
The Super Giants boast an incredible batting line-up in the form of Aiden Markram, Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Mitchell Marsh, David Miller, and Adbul Samad. However, these batters mostly operate in the middle order. Therefore, Pant could promote himself at the top. The Super Giants could struggle in this segment with no David Warner and Prithvi Shaw this time.
LSG Probable XI
LSG Probable XI: Rishabh Pant (captain and wicket-keeper), Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, and Mayank Yadav.
