Lucknow Super Giants have finalised their list of retained players ahead of the mega auction for the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is set to retain five players - Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, their skipper KL Rahul is not among the retentions and is unlikely to be retained barring any last-minute changes to the list. In this case, LSG will be left with only one Right to Match (RTM) card at the auction. The report added that the amount of the retained players is not yet known but going by the slabs set, LSG will lose at least Rs 51 crore from their purse.
It has been reported that Pooran will be the top retention with Mayank and Bishnoi to follow while Badoni and Mohsin will be among the uncapped retentions. Pooran was bought by the franchise for Rs 16 crore ahead of IPL 2023 and he scored 358 and 499 runs respectively in two seasons at a strike rate in excess of 170.
As for Mayank Yadav, the speedster played four matches and won Player of the Match award twice clocking 150-plus kph deliveries consistently. LSG picked him for just Rs 20 lakh and even though he is injury-prone, the franchise is showing faith in him. In fact, Mayank is injured right now and is currently at BCCI's newly opened Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
Rest of the three players - Badni, Mohsin and Bishnoi - were picked by LSG in their inaugural IPL season in 2022 and have fared well in three editions. Interestingly, the franchise has kept faith in Mohsin who has repeatedly injured during the cash-rich league but the 6'3" left-arm fast bowler from Uttar Pradesh seems to have impressed the management.
