Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) too confirmed their retentions on the deadline day while dropping the ball on their captain KL Rahul. Nicholas Pooran, the free-flowing West wicketkeeper-batter was the top retention for the Super Giants at a massive valuation of INR 21 crore, with Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan joining him in the ranks.
Rahul's drop was on the expected lines with how the results went for LSG, especially in those games proportional to the captain playing a longer innings. The public outburst between the owner Sanjiv Goenka and Rahul didn't help the cause. However, Rahul will now be in the market at the mega auction, up for grabs with several teams looking for a captain.
With these five retentions, LSG also saved a massive amount of INR 69 crore going into the auction with an option of buying back one of the players through a Right-to-match (RTM) card. Rahul himself, Marcus Stoinis, Naveen ul Haq and Quinton de Kock could be the players among whom LSG might have their eyes on for that remaining one retention spot.
Among the ones already done, LSG have taken a sizeable risk with Mayank Yadav, the gun pacer, especially since he hasn't been able to keep up with the workload that a T20 match requires. Mayank got injured after playing three games for LSG in the IPL and similarly for India recently. His management will be key as to how much he is able to repay the faith of the owners.
LSG's retention list - Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 cr), Mayank Yadav (INR 11 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (INR 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (INR 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (INR 4 crore)
Players released by LSG: Matt Henry, David Willey, Shamar Joseph, Mark Wood, KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Devdutt Padikkal, Amit Mishra, Yudhvir Charak, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M Siddharth, Arshad Khan, Marcus Stoinis, Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ashton Turner
