Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and Gautam Gambhir, team mentor, presented Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Aditya Yoginath with the franchise’s first bat ahead of the Indian Premier League's inaugural season. In IPL 2022, the Lucknow-based team will compete for the first time in the cash-rich league.
The franchise debuted in the IPL auction last week, and many cricket experts were impressed by their performance. Quinton de Kock, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, and Deepak Hooda were among the players purchased by the RPSG group. They had previously named KL Rahul the captain after signing him in the pre-auction draft. Prior to the auction, they also acquired Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi.
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The franchise's official Twitter account posted a photo of Goenka and Gambhir with the UP CM, with a caption saying, "The first bat of the #LucknowSuperGiants presented to the Honorable Chief Minister, @myogiadityanath. Grateful to receive his support!"
LSG and Ahmedabad are the two new teams to join the IPL as it expands to a ten-team tournament. The RPSG group, owned by Sanjiv Goenka, paid a whopping INR 7090 crore for the Lucknow-based franchise. The CVC group bought the Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 5625 crores.
Gautam Gambhir, a two-time IPL champion, has been named the franchise's mentor, while Andy Flower has been named the head coach. Their home games will be held at Lucknow's Ekana Cricket Stadium when the league reverts to the home and away format post COVID-19 pandemic.
