Indian Premier League (IPL) has always been full of entertainment and whenever new teams are introduced; the excitement levels go up by several notches. The upcoming season is going to be bigger and more extravagant as the fans will witness 10 teams fighting for the title. Lucknow Super Giants is one of the two newly-introduced franchises. Before the 15th season of the tournament kicks off, let’s analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the team led by KL Rahul.
The owners of LSG – RPSG Group – aren’t new in the business of franchise cricket. Back in 2016, when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were slapped with a 2-year ban, they introduced the Rising Pune Supergiant which was led by MS Dhoni and then Steve Smith. Four years later, they came up with a new team representing Uttar Pradesh, a state that’s participating in the tournament for the first time.
Strength: Be it spin or pace, the bowling unit of Lucknow looks phenomenal. They roped in Ravi Bishnoi prior to the auction and then spent a huge amount of Rs 10 Crore to have Avesh Khan on board. Apart from them, the inclusion of Dushmanta Chameera, Deepak Hooda, Mayank Yadav, Ankit Singh Rajpoot and Karan Sharma strengthen the attack of the team.
The highlight of this team is the bunch of all-rounders from different corners of the world. They picked Marcus Stoinis before roping in Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Shahbaz Nadeem and Kyle Mayers. Each one of them has produced with the bat as well but their reputation is more of a bowler.
Weaknesses: Too much of bowlers and bowling all-rounders means a lesser number of pure batters. The flag bearer of the batting unit is captain Rahul himself but the options thereafter are limited. Quinton de Kock, Evin Lewis and Manish Pandey are the remaining capped batters with decent international experience. The likes of Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni are good players but lack exposure.
The situation will somehow make the team more dependent on the all-rounders at the time of scoring runs. That would be a good chance worth taking but positive results are minimally guaranteed.
Here’s the full fixture of Lucknow Super Giants:
| MATCH DAY | MATCH NO. | DAY | DATE | TIME | PM/AM | HOME TEAM | AWAY TEAM | VENUE |
| 3 | 4 | Mon | 28-03-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Gujarat Titans | Lucknow Super Giants | Wankhede Stadium |
| 6 | 7 | Collect | 31-03-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Chennai Super Kings | Brabourne – CCI |
| 10 | 12 | Mon | 04-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Lucknow Super Giants | DY Patil Stadium |
| 13 | 15 | Collect | 07-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Delhi Capitals | DY Patil Stadium |
| 16 | 20 | Sun | 10-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Rajasthan Royals | Lucknow Super Giants | Wankhede Stadium |
| 22 | 26 | Sat | 16-04-2022 | 03:30 | PM | Mumbai Indians | Lucknow Super Giants | Brabourne – CCI |
| 25 | 31 | Tue | 19-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Royal Challengers Bangalore | DY Patil Stadium |
| 30 | 37 | Sun | 24-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Mumbai Indians | Wankhede Stadium |
| 35 | 42 | Fri | 29-04-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Punjab Kings | Lucknow Super Giants | MCA Stadium, Pune |
| 37 | 45 | Sun | 01-05-2022 | 03:30 | PM | Delhi Capitals | Lucknow Super Giants | Wankhede Stadium |
| 43 | 53 | Sat | 07-05-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Kolkata Knight Riders | MCA Stadium, Pune |
| 46 | 57 | Tue | 10-05-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Gujarat Titans | MCA Stadium, Pune |
| 51 | 63 | Sun | 15-05-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Lucknow Super Giants | Rajasthan Royals | Brabourne – CCI |
| 54 | 66 | Wed | 18-05-2022 | 07:30 | PM | Kolkata Knight Riders | Lucknow Super Giants | DY Patil Stadium |
Squad: KL Rahul (c), Ravi Bishnoi, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Jason Holder, Manish Pandey, Quinton de Kock (wk), Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, Krishnappa Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav.
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