Lucknow franchise picks KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi for Indian T20 League 2022

The new Indian T20 League (ITL) franchise Lucknow has picked KL Rahul, Ravi Bishnoi and Marcus Stoinis as their three draft picks. The new franchises were allowed to pick three players outside the auction. News of Rahul leading Lucknow was doing rounds ever since Punjab didn't retain him ahead of the mega auction and the same has been confirmed now.

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As per a report in Cricinfo, the franchise picked Rahul for INR 15 crore, while they shelled 11 crores and 4 crores for Stoinis and Bishnoi respectively. The franchise will now go in the mega auction with a 60 crores purse. The franchise has also roped in Andy Flower as head coach and Gautam Gambhir as mentor.

Rahul led Punjab in the previous two editions of the Indian T20 League. However, the team failed to do well. Despite the below-par performance of the team, Rahul was in staggering form. In the four seasons Rahul played for Punjab, he scored 2548 runs, which is just below 30 per cent of total team runs. Meanwhile, Australia all-rounder Stoinis will be representing his fourth franchise, having previously played for Delhi, Punjab and Bangalore.

Bishnoi has also created a huge impact in the Indian T20 league. He came into the limelight after emerging as the leading wicket-taker for India in the U-19 50 Over World Cup in 2020. He was on the radar of many franchises after impressive performances for Punjab in the last two seasons of the Indian T20 league.

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Meanwhile, the mega auctions are likely to be held in the second week of February in Bengaluru.