IPL 2022: KL Rahul set to lead Lucknow franchise; Ravi Bishnoi and Marcus Stoinis to be part of team

KL Rahul (Source: Twitter)

KL Rahul will captain the yet-to-be-named Lucknow franchise in the upcoming IPL 2022, a league source told PTI on Tuesday.

It is learnt that Rahul is one of the players Lucknow has picked from the draft ahead of the mega auction on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru. Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Indian leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi are the other two.

''Rahul will captain Lucknow. The team is deciding on the other two draft picks,'' an IPL source told PTI.

As per ESPNCricinfo, the Lucknow franchise will go into the February auction with a purse of INR 60 crore - Rahul cost them INR 15 crore, Stoinis INR 11 crore, and Bishnoi INR 4 crore.

Rahul led Punjab Kings for the past two seasons but did not want to stay at the franchise and was subsequently released by the management.

Bishnoi was also with Punjab while Stoinis represented Delhi Capitals.

Notably, RPSG Group had shelled out Rs 7090 crore to buy the Lucknow franchise.

Rahul is currently the stand-in captain of the Indian ODI team in South Africa in the absence of an injured Rohit Sharma.

The 29-year-old has been one of the most consistent batters in the IPL since the 2018.

After starting his IPL career in 2013 when Rahul was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore, he went to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, and was traded back to Royal Challengers in 2016 before the Punjab franchise (then Kings XI Punjab) paid Rs 11 crore to buy him in the 2018 auction.

While the Punjab team didn't perform as per the expectations under his leadership, Rahul had a great outing with the bat. He scored 2,548 runs at an average of 56.62 including 25 fifty-plus scores -- two of them hundreds -- in 55 innings in four IPL seasons with Punjab. However, his strike rate was a point of discussion.

Meanwhile, Lucknow will be the fourth IPL franchise for Stoinis. The Australian had started his IPL journey in 2015 with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), where he returned in 2020 after being bought for INR 4.8 crore.

In the 27 matches he has played for the Capitals, 32-year-old Stoinis scored 441 runs at a strike rate of 142.71 and picked 15 wickets. In between, the all-rounder had also turned out for Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

On the other hand, Bishnoi, impressed with his performance in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, where he finished as the leading wicket-taker. He was picked by Punjab in the 2020 auction for Rs 2 crore.

With his brilliant performance, the spinner quickly became the lead spinner for Punjab, and took 12 wickets in 14 matches in his first season, and in 2021, he had 12 wickets from nine matches. Overall, he has an economy rate of 6.95.

In another IPL development, the other new franchise -- Ahmedabad are all set to pick Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill.