Lucknow Super Giants Players List: Lucknow Super Giants pleased with ‘multi-utility’ squad | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Lucknow Super Giants are pleased they could stick to the plan of bagging “high performance, multi-utility” players in the IPL auction, according to franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka and head coach Andy Flower.
The KL Rahul-led Lucknow had a very good first day at the IPL auction, probably the best among all franchises, and followed it up on Sunday with the handy Rs 2 crore purchase of pacer Dushmantha Chameera and opener Evin Lewis. There were some other useful buys like spin-bowling allrounder K Gowtham.
IPL AUCTION: AS IT HAPPENED
“We are very happy. I’m glad we seem to have a well-considered, versatile squad. We wanted to have a lot of multi-skilled, multi-dimensional players and some backup options and we could pull it off,” RPSG Group chairman and franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka told TOI.
“Even though we had all plans in place, there was a lot of thinking on our feet involved. We got a great opener in Quinton (de Kock). We have a very good allrounder in Jason Holder. In Rahul and Manish Pandey we have two solid Indian batsmen.”

Lucknow now have a slew of allround options, including the retained Marcus Stoinis. In a new trend, spin-bowling allrounders like Krunal Pandya (8. 25 crore) and Deepak Hooda (Rs 5. 75 crore) were much in demand. Flower, however, insisted Lucknow had not consciously created the trend, even though they seem to have factored in the wearing pitches in the second half of the season.
“I wouldn’t blanket-value one type of cricketer with the value of another type,” Flower said. “In Krunal’s case, we targeted the individual. He has loads of IPL experience, is a very useful spin option and can bat at No. 5. It was a first for me, planning with Gautam Gambhir (team mentor), Vijay Dahiya (assistant coach) and KL (Rahul). I’m glad all the planning was on point.”

Goenka said, “In the auction, it was a conscious effort to go for spinners, particularly multi-utility spinners. That’s also worked out well. The team looks balanced.”
The franchise also bagged speedster Avesh Khan for Rs 10 crore to partner England pacer Wood. “I’m pleased with the addition of a long-term prospect like Avesh,” said Flower. “He is a super performer. He is fast, has a good slower ball and lots of variations.” Luckily for Lucknow, the injury-prone Wood is expected to be available for a large part of the season, meaning a formidable new-ball pairing.
Avesh was bought for Rs 10 crore in the auction while another uncapped bowler, leggie Ravi Bishnoi, was retained for Rs 4 crore by the same team, so is there an imbalance in the whole auction process for the much-in-demand ‘uncapped-with-IPL-experience’ players? “That’s not how I see it,” said Goenka. “It’s all part of the auction mechanism. Much depends on when your name comes up, how much of the squad has been finalized by the teams at that point. I don’t see it as an imbalance. The auction is a very transparent, dynamic process.”