The new Indian Premier League franchise from Lucknow on Friday announced its three draft picks ahead of the IPL 2022 season which will feature as many as 10 teams. Owned by RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, the Lucknow team picked KL Rahul as their captain and also roped in Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
Sanjiv Goenka, the chairperson of the RPSG Group, announced the 3 new signings on Friday after India’s ODI series defeat to South Africa in Paarl.
Lucknow picked KL Rahul for Rs 17 crore while Marcus Stoinis was picked for Rs 9.2 crore. On the other hand, former Punjab Kings bowler Ravi Bishnoi was picked for Rs 4 crore.
Lucknow draft picks for IPL 2022
KL Rahul – Rs 17 crore
Marcus Stoinis – Rs 9.2 crore
Ravi Bishnoi – Rs 4 crore
Purse left for IPL 2022 auction: Rs 58 crore
The IPL 2022 auction will be held on February 12 and 13. The 8 existing franchises announced a maximum of 4 retained players each last year as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gave the 2 new franchise time until January last week to pick their 3 draft signings.
IPL 2022 will have 2 new teams — one from Ahmedabad and the other from Lucknow. The Ahmedabad team will be owned by CVC Capital. CVC was one of two companies to have won bids to own the two new franchises that will play in the IPL from next season. While its bid of Rs 5625 crore helped them win the Ahmedabad franchise, the RPSG Group won the Lucknow franchise with a bid of Rs 7090 crore.
KL Rahul gets big paycheque in Lucknow
KL Rahul who has been one of the consistent performers with the bat in the IPL over the years had taken over the captain of Punjab Kings captain in IPL 2020. However, after two unsuccessful campaigns with Punjab, Rahul sought to move to a new franchise.
Punjab Kings agreed to Rahul’s request and released him when they announced their retentions for IPL 2022 in December 2021. The Punjab-based franchise picked Mayank Agarwal as their captain, retaining him along with Arshdeep Singh
