The 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be very exciting for everybody. For the first time in a while, the IPL is once again a ten-team affair with the Lucknow Super Giants and Ahmedabad Gujarat Titans added into the mix. The 2022 Mega Auction has also recently concluded and cricket followers can’t help but wonder how these two teams will be performing this year.
As early as now, people are already mapping out what could happen this season. Some are even getting their bets that they will place on an Indian Premier League top betting site once the season begins. Want to know more about the two new teams in the league? Here’s everything we know today.
Lucknow Super Giants
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) IPL team is the most expensive franchise in the league’s history. During the auction for the two new teams last year, the RP-Sanjib Goenka Group or RSPG was successfully bid for the team with a whopping amount of Rs 7,090 crore.
LSG is now officially based in Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow and will be playing its home matches at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium. Even before the Mega Auction, the LSG was able to draft cricket star KL Rahul who was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise from 2018 until last year. LSG purchased Rahul for Rs 17 crore and is now the captain of the LSG.
Two more players were purchased by LSG before the Mega Auction and these are Marcus Stoinis from the Delhi Capitals for Rs 9.2 crore and Ravis Bishnoi from Kings XI Punjab for Rs 4 crore. During the Mega Auction, the LSG was able to utilize the rest of its purse to complete the team. Here’s the complete list of the LSG players and how much they were signed for:
- Quinton de Kock – Rs 6.75 crore
- Manish Pandey – Rs 4.60 crore
- Jason Holder – Rs 8.75 crore
- Deepak Hooda – Rs 5.75 crore
- Krunal Pandya – Rs 8.25 crore
- Mark Wood – Rs 7.5 crore
- Avesh Khan – Rs 10 crore
- Ankit Singh Rajpoot – Rs 50 lakh
- K Gowtham – Rs 90 lakh
- Dushmanta Chameera – Rs 2 crore
- Shahbaz Nadeem – Rs 50 lakh
- Manan Vohra – Rs 20 lakh
- Mohsin Khan – Rs 20 lakh
- Kyle Mayers – Rs 50 lakh
- Ayush Badoni – Rs 20 lakh
- Evin Lewis – Rs 2 crore
- Mayank Yadav – Rs 20 lakh
Based on the players acquired by LSG, we can expect that the team will have a well-rounded and strong bowling gameplay. There are also good pacers in the team like Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, and Jason Holder. Meanwhile, Krunal Pandya and K Gowtham could offer a lot with their spin skills. What only seems lacking is an experienced batter and we can only wait and see if the likes of Manish Pandey will have a better IPL year.
Ahmedabad Gujarat Titans
The Ahmedabad team which is called Gujarat Titans (GT) was successfully purchased by the CVC Capital group in last year’s two new IPL team auctions for Rs 5625 crore. The team is based in Gujarat, Ahmedabad and its home matches will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera.
Before the recent Mega Auction, GT was already able to secure Hardik Pandya from Mumbai Indians, Shubman Gill from Kolkata Knight Riders, and Afghanistan player Rashid Khan from Sunrisers Hyderabad.
GT signed Hardik Pandya as the team’s captain for Rs 15 crore. They also signed star spinner Rashid Khan for the same amount. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill who is known for his batting skills was signed for Rs 7 crore. Here are the other players signed by GT and how much they were paid for.
- Mohammed Shami – Rs 6.25 crore
- Jason Roy – Rs 2 crore
- Lockie Ferguson – Rs 10 crore
- Abhinav Sadarangani – Rs 2.6 crore
- Rahul Tewatia – Rs 9 crore
- Noor Ahmed – Rs 30 lakh
- R Sai Kishore – Rs 3 crore
- Dominic Drakes – Rs 1.1 crore
- Jayant Yadav – Rs 1.70 crore
- Vijay Shankar – Rs 1.40 crore
- Darshan Nalkande – Rs 20 lakh
- Yash Dayal – Rs 3.20 crore
- Alzarri Joseph – Rs 2.40 crore
- Pradeep Sangwan – Rs 20 lakh
- David Miller – Rs 3 crore
- Wriddhiman Saha – Rs 1.90 crore
- Matthew Wade – Rs 2.40 crore
- Varun Aaron – Rs 50 lakh
With these names, Gujarat Titans seem to have a well-rounded all-around squad. The team’s captain himself, Pandya is an all-rounder and during the Mega Auction, GT purchased eight more all-rounders including Rahul Tewatia. According to the team’s head coach, former India pacer Ashish Nehra, they did aim to build an all-rounder team as this is what fits a T20 competition.