The Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new franchises this season, have assembled a formidable squad after their debut the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on Sunday, making a number of smart buys to add to their draft picks.  

The RPSG Group-backed team bought the likes of Quinton de Kock, a consistant performer for the Mumbai Indians, all-rounders like Jason Holder and Krunal Pandya and English pacer Mark Wood. 

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The franchise also made Avesh Khan the most expensive uncapped player in IPL history, buying the former Delhi Capitals bowler for Rs 10 crore. Lucknow bought eight players today, for a total of Rs 52.35 crore.

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Their draft picks were KL Rahul (Rs 17 crore), Marcus Stoinis (Rs 9.2 crore) and Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 4 crore). 

Here is the Lucknow Super Giants’ full squad:

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

Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan and Deepak Chahar clinched the most eye-popping deals as India’s battle-hardened T20 exponents laughed their way to the bank on the opening day of IPL mega-auction where the franchises saved their highest bids for home-grown talent.

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Kishan’s Rs 15.25 crore winning bid from Mumbai Indians pipped the Rs 14 crore figure that CSK offered to retain Deepak Chahar on Saturday. Franchises showed prudence in overall spending but didn’t hesitate to loosen the purse strings for proven performers, especially Indians.