IPL 2022 Lucknow Super Giants Preview: A Formidable Side (With Weak Bench)

SQUAD

KL Rahul (c), Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan

Players’ Availability: England pacer Mark Wood has been ruled out of the entire season with an elbow injury. No replacement has been named yet. Australia’s Marcus Stoinis and West Indies’ Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers are expected miss the first week due to their national commitments.

Batting: Like Super Giants’ pockets (they spent Rs 7,000 crore to buy the franchise!), their batting line-up also has depth. Depending on what combination they use, they bat as deep as No. 8. What remains to be seen is what they do with this depth. Quinton de Kock will be aggressive as always but how will KL Rahul respond to such support which he didn’t have at Punjab Kings. Manish Pandey, likely to bat No. 3, has been subdued in the last couple of seasons but he can anchor the innings and free up Rahul to go after the bowlers. Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya and Jason Holder give them the muscle to exploit the last five over. But they might struggle in finding replacements for their middle and lower-order batters in case of any injury or if they want to rest some players as their bench is a bit weak.

Bowling: Despite losing Mark Wood, they have an enviable depth in bowling, just like their batting. In their potential playing XI, Super Giants will have as many as eight genuine bowling options. For pace, they Avesh Khan and Dushmantha Chameera, both capable of consistently clocking 140kmph. Holder will provide control with his line and length, and his high release point poses a challenge for batters. Stoinis can also chip in with a few overs, his ability to take pace off the ball and bowl cutters can be useful in end overs. Then they also have multiple spin options in Ravi Bishnoi’s wrist spin, Krunal Pandya and Shahbaz Nadeem’s left-arm spin, and K Gowtham and Deepak Hooda’s off-spin. In reserves, they have experienced right-arm pacer Ankit Rajpoot and impressive left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan.

Potential Playing XI

1. KL Rahul (c), 2. Quinton de Kock (wk), 3. Manish Pandey, 4. Marcus Stoinis, 5. Deepak Hooda, 6. Krunal Pandya, 7. Jason Holder, 8. Krishnappa Gowtham/Shahbaz Nadeem, 9. Ravi Bishnoi, 10. Avesh Khan, 11. Dushmantha Chameera