In the 15-year history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a few new teams have been added to the competition. The now-defunct Gujarat Lions (GL) enrolled in the IPL in the 2016 season and played for two years before being disbanded. Similarly, Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) – also played in the IPL for two seasons in 2016 and 2017 before becoming defunct.
Ahead of the IPL 2022, the BCCI announced the addition of two new teams to the IPL, making it a 10-team league. These teams are Gujarat Titans (GT) and Lucknow Supergiants (LSG). While the Gujarat team won the title in its debut season, Lucknow made it to the playoffs before being eliminated.
In October 2021, the BCCI held an auction for the Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises. Several investors showed interest in acquiring the teams, but eventually there were only six serious bidders. The RPSG Group, who owned the RPS team in 2016 and 2017, bought LSG for a staggering Rs 7,090 crore.
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All you need to know about the RPSG Group
The RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata and owned by Sanjiv Goenka, who also serves as the chairman of the group. They have a wide range of businesses, including retail, power, financial services, telecommunications, real estate, agribusiness and infrastructure.
The group also has interests in media, hospitality, entertainment, and sports. LSG is not the only team they have invested in. The RPSG Group also own Durban Super Giants (DSG) cricket team based in South Africa and ATK Mohun Bagan based in Kolkata. They also own RPSG Mavericks Kolkata, which is one of the six city-based teams in the Ultimate Table Tennis league, a top table tennis league.
LSG’s maiden IPL season
LSG’s campaign started on March 28, 2022, when they faced fellow debutants Gujarat Titans in their opening match. Led by KL Rahul, the team has a strong core of experienced players such as Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda and Manish Pandey, who helped the side win 8 out of 14 matches in the league stage and subsequently make it to the playoffs.
However, they lost the eliminator to the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens after being unable to chase down a target of 207 runs. Skipper KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda put up a good fight, but the target proved to be a little too big in the end, as RCB won the game by 14 runs.
Lucknow Supergiants squad for IPL 2023
For the 2023 season, the franchise released seven players in the form of Jason Holder, Manish Pandey, Dushmantha Chameera and Evin Lewis, Andrew Tye and Shahbaz Nadeem. At the mini auction held in Kochi, they signed up several big names including West Indies wicketkeeper batter Nicholas Pooran, all-rounders Romario Shepherd and Daniel Sams, Indian pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Yash Thakur and Afghan fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq.
The Lucknow Supergiant squad for IPL 2023 is as follows:
KL Rahul (c), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholas Pooran, Jaydev Unadkat, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Daniel Sams, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yudhvir Charak.
LSG possible playing XI – Quinton de Kock (wk), KL Rahul (c), Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Mark Wood, Mohsin Khan/Jaydev Unadkat.
Lucknow Supergiants schedule for IPL 2023
Lucknow Supergiants will kick start their campaign against Delhi Capitals on April 1 in Lucknow. They are set to play a total of 14 matches in the league stage, the last of which will be played against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 20.
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