Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have announced their vice-captain ahead of the 2024 edition of the IPL in the form of former West Indies white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran. Pooran, who joined LSG last year for a whopping amount of INR 16 crore, will be partnering with captain KL Rahul as the two-year-old franchise aims to go further than the eliminator having reached the playoffs in both seasons.
Pooran's appointment is interesting given that Krunal Pandya led the Lucknow franchise in six games in Rahul's absence when the latter was ruled out of the second half of the tournament due to an injury. LSG didn't explicitly announce a vice-captain last year but Krunal was assumed to be Rahul's deputy as he took over the reins for the latter half of IPL 2023.
Under Krunal, LSG won three of their six games while losing two and one match against the Chennai Super Kings was washed out. However, this season Pooran has been named Rahul's new deputy as Lucknow aim to win their first title.
LSG have been really good in the first two years of the IPL. However, with the appointment of Justin Langer as the head coach and a few new good recruitments in the form of Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Mavi, David Willey, M Siddharth and Shamar Joseph (replacement of Mark Wood), LSG look a much more rounded side and will hope to go all the way.
Another new dimension of the LSG outfit this year would be how they fair with skipper KL Rahul batting in the middle order after opening the innings in the last two seasons?
Lucknow Super Giants squad for IPL 2024: KL Rahul (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ayush Badoni, Devdutt Padikkal, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Shamar Joseph, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan, Amit Mishra, Yudhvir Charak, Prerak Mankad, Shivam Mavi, Yash Thakur, Arshin Kulkarni, M Siddharth, Arshad Khan
