In a major move in the Indian Premier League 2024 trade window, Rajasthan Royals signed the young Indian pacer Avesh Khan from Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, November 22. They swapped the top-order batter Devdutt Padikkal to LSG for the signature of Avesh ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024 season.
IPL franchises have till November 26 to submit their final list of retained players before going into next month's player auction in UAE. Padikkal struggled to find regular chances during the IPL 2023 season where he scored 261 runs in 11 innings with two fifties.
Avesh Khan also struggled to make an impact with KL Rahul's LSG since his big-money arrival in the IPL 2023 auction. Avesh took only eight wickets and proved costly in the previous edition but remains part of India's T20I side for the upcoming Australia series starting on November 23.
This will be the only second trade after Mumbai Indians' signing of Romario Shepherd from Lucknow Super Giants earlier this month. Teams are expected to make further moves in the trading window with only four days remaining to submit the retained players list. Rajasthan Royals have INR 3.35 crore left in their purse with three slots available while Lucknow Super Giants go into the auction with INR 3.55 crore in the bag.
Padikkal's arrival at LSG is likely to shuffle the batting order for the IPL 2024 season with KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock and Kyle Mayers bidding for the openers' roles. Rahul is expected to bat in the middle order after his sensational performance with team India in the ICC World Cup 2023.
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson-led Royals are well equipped in the pace department with Indian bowlers Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeem Sharma and KM Asif. Trent Boult, Obed McCoy and Jason Holder are overseas pace options at the Jaipur-based franchise.
