Amid rumours of his possible departure from the franchise, KL Rahul was retained by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction next month. LSG had traded Rahul from Punjab Kings ahead of IPL 2022, and later named him as the captain of the team ahead of their maiden season in the franchise-based league. Under Rahul, LSG have qualified for the IPL play-offs in the last two seasons. Rahul. however, picked up an injury mid-way through the last season before making his return to action during the Asia Cup earlier this year.
LSG traded pacer Avesh Khan to Rajasthan Royals ahead of the Retention Day, with Devdutt Padikkal joining the Lucknow-based franchise.
Avesh was purchased by LSG 2022 mega auction for Rs 10 crore, and has picked up 55 wickets in 47 IPL matches.
Padikkal, on the other hand, has 57 IPL matches under his belt, scoring 1521 runs with the help of a hundred and nine half-centuries.
LSG have realeased eight players with seven being Indian. Left-arm pacer Daniel Sams was the only overseas player laid off by the franchise.
Retained players: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen ul Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan
Released players: Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Sams, Manan Vohra, Swapnil Singh, Karan Sharma, Arpit Guleria, Suryansh Shedge, Karun Nair
Traded players: Devdutt Padikkal (from Rajasthan Royals)