KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi set to join Lucknow franchise for IPL 2022

KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Ravi Bishnoi are all set to join the Lucknow franchise for IPL 2022, ESPN Cricinfo has reported.

Rahul had earlier left Punjab Kings as he didn’t want to continue with the Mohali-based franchise. The flamboyant batter is also likely to lead the Lucknow franchise in the next season of the tournament.

RPSG Group had spent a whopping amount of INR 7090 crore to buy the franchise. The franchise will now spend a total of INR 30 crores to rope in these three aforementioned players. Rahul will get INR 15 crores, Marcus Stoinis has been roped in for INR 11 crores while Bishnoi will receive INR 4 crores. Thus, Lucknow will enter the mega auction with a remaining purse value of INR 60 crores.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul started his IPL career with Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2013. He then made a move to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014 but he was traded back to RCB in 2016. Subsequently, the right-hander was bought by Punjab Kings for INR 11 crores in IPL 2018 auction.

Rahul has been a consistent performer and the leading run-getter of the tournament since IPL 2018. The flamboyant batter had scored 626 runs in 13 matches of IPL 2021 for the Punjab franchise. Furthermore, he had finished as the highest run-getter in IPL 2020 as he had amassed 670 runs in IPL 2020. Moreover, he scored 593 runs in IPL 2019 and had finished as the second-highest leading run-scorer.

On the other hand, Marcus Stoinis had also done a fine job for his previous franchise Delhi Capitals. Stoinis has the skills to add the finishing touches with the bat and he can also contribute with the ball. Stoinis scored 441 runs in 32 matches for DC at a blistering strike rate of 142.71 and also scalped 15 wickets.

Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi has impressed in his young career and he has scalped 24 wickets in 23 IPL matches at an impressive economy rate of 6.95.