Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have roped in Kiwi pacer Matt Henry as the replacement for their bowling allrounder David Willey. Henry has been brought on board at his base price of INR 1.25 crores and will bolster the pace attack of LSG that comprises overseas names like Shamar Joseph, Naveen-ul-Haq and allrounders Kyle Mayers and Marcus Stoinis.
Willey has withdrawn from the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for personal reasons.
Notably, Henry's addition to the LSG squad can end up providing it with the experience that it otherwise lacked.
Henry has played 131 T20s thus far and grabbed 151 wickets at an economy rate of 8.39. The 32-year-old has played only a handful of T20Is (17) for New Zealand as they prefer to use him in the ODI format more compared to the shortest format of the game.
The right-arm pacer has an incredible ODI record with 141 wickets in 82 games at an average of 26.39. He has also bagged 10 four-wicket hauls and two five-fors. Henry has played in the IPL before. He was a part of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) during the 2017 season and featured in the playing XI twice.
On the other hand, LSG had acquired the services of Willey after splurging INR 2 crore at the mini-auction in December last year. Willey, who was a part of RCB (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) for the last two seasons had announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket during the ODI World Cup in India in 2023.
He featured in two T20 tournaments in the lead-up to the 17th edition of the IPL. The left-arm speedster represented Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in the ILT20 and then played for Multan Sultans in the ninth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 9).
Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2024 squad:
KL Rahul (c & wk), Quinton de Kock, Devdutt Padikkal, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Deepak Hooda, Mayank Yadav, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Shamar Joseph, Matt Henry, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Manimaran Siddharth, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Arshad Khan, Arshin Kulkarni.
