KL Rahul, Ravi Bishnoi and Marcus Stoinis to play for Lucknow in ITL 2022

The Indian T20 League (ITL) 2022 will be a 10-team affair with addition of two new franchises- Lucknow and Ahmedabad. The new franchises were allowed to pick three players outside the mega auctions and the team has roped in KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, the Lucknow franchise will be heading into the ITL 2022 mega auction with a purse of INR 60 crores, having spent a significant amount on KL Rahul, Ravi Bishnoi, and, Marcus Stoinis. As per ESPNcricinfo, Rahul has been roped in for INR 15 crores, while Stoinis and Bishnoi have been paid a sum of INR 11 & 4 crores respectively. Furthermore, it has also been learned that the Karnataka cricketer would be leading the team.

KL Rahul, who led the team in 2020 and 21 season, was roped in by the Punjab franchise in 2018. The makeshift wicket-keeper batter amassed 2548 runs for Punjab in four seasons including two tons averaging 56.62. However, Rahul was keen to play for the new franchises and asked Punjab to not retain him, which the franchise obliged.

Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi was roped in by Punjab in 2020 after he played a crucial role in India reaching the finals of the ICC U-19  50-over World Cup. The young leggie registered 24 scalps from the 23 matches he played for Punjab in the last two seasons. He was on the radar of many franchises by Lucknow got their hands on the promising youngster.

Marcus Stoinis, on the other hand, will be representing his fourth franchise, having previously played for Delhi, Punjab and Bangalore.