IPL 2022: For me, they are 9 out 10 – Aakash Chopra rates Lucknow Supergiants squad

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels new IPL franchise Lucknow Supergiants were able to ‘ace’ their maiden IPL mega auction.

Supergiants had mentor Gautam Gambhir at the auction table and his experience played a vital role in picking a potent squad.

LSG picked up 18 players in the auction after they had bagged KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi. The newly added franchise was able to select a balanced squad and they have added quality players to their side.

Lucknow Supergiants were able to pick Quinton de Kock for INR 6.25 crores and he is expected to open the innings with skipper KL Rahul. Moreover, they have batters like Manish Pandey, Evin Lewis, and Manan Vohra.

On the other hand, LSG was able to rope in the services of Avesh Khan and Mark Wood, who both can breathe down the neck of the opposition with their extra pace.

Chopra wrote on his Twitter: “It’s their first-ever auction, but @LucknowIPL have aced it in my opinion.”

“It is said that forming a team in your first auction is very difficult because you have to start from scratch and there is nothing that you can look back to. There are some franchises who can look back at the decisions that worked for them and there are some who learn from the mistakes and opt for a clean slate,” he said in the video.

“Keeping that in mind, I think Lucknow Super Giants (in their first auction) did a phenomenal job. For me, they are 9 on 10.”

Furthermore, LSG was able to rope in all-rounders like Jason Holder, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Krishnappa Gowtham. Thus, they have covered most of their bases and these players will certainly help them in winning.

“Does any team have more all-rounders than them? There are multifaceted players from 1 to 11, or that’s what it seems like,” he said. “Almost all key players can contribute with bat and ball and can be rotated in the batting order. That gives them a lot of depth in batting and the bowling attack also has a lot of variety.”

LSG Squad: Batters: Manish Pandey, Manan Vohra, Evin Lewis

Wicketkeepers: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock

Allrounders: Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Krishnappa Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma

Bowlers: Mark Wood, Dushmantha Chameera, Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav