Playing
in their maiden season of IPL, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) utilised their full
purse at the IPL 2022 mega auction. The franchise secured the service of KL
Rahul for a whopping Rs 17 crore from the players’ draft before the auction and
appointed him the captain. LSG also bought Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis
for Rs 9.2 crore and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi for Rs 4 crore from the players’
draft.

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LSG,
managed by former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir, built a strong
batting attack buying Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey and Evin Lewis. LSG also purchased a number of all-rounders including Jason Holder,
Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda among others.

In
the bowling department, LSG went for Avesh Khan and bought the rising pacer for
Rs 7.5 crore. Avesh is now a pace sensation in Indian cricket. He could combine
well with Mark Wood and Sri Lankan fast bowler Dushmanta Chameera.

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Here’s
a SWOT Analysis of the LSG squad for IPL 2022:

Strengths: Bowling attack

LSG
assured that they have a balanced bowling attack. The pace attack is comprised
of experienced pacers Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Jason Holder and Dushmanta
Chameera. If this pace attack hit the right chord, they can rattle any batting
attack on a given day.

The
spin department has completed the LSG bowling attack. Led by wrist-spinner Ravi
Bishnoi, who has performed extremely well for the Punjab Kings in the past
seasons, LSG holds a variety of finger spinners in the form of K Gowtham and
Krunal Pandya. It would be interesting to see if skipper Rahul decides to use
his finger spin options during the powerplay overs and save overs of his pace
bowlers to have an extra cushion during the death overs.

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Weakness: Batting

Though
LSG got a few strong batters in their squad from across the world, their main
disadvantage is not having quality Indian batters besides KL Rahul. The absence
of Indian batters may hurt them deep into the tournament. Manish Pandey is good
but his inconsistency could be an issue.

In
Hooda, Stoinis, Gowtham and Krunal, LSG also have a strong batting tack. However,
the franchise somewhat lacks a batter who can stick throughout the innings and
play an anchor role for the team. The skipper Rahul and De Kock will have to bear responsibilities.

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Opportunity: Power hitters

LSG
is an all-rounder heavy team, with Krunal Pandya, Stoinis, Holder, Hooda and
Gowtham in their rank. All these five players are terrific smashers of the ball
which will help LSG to garner some quick runs in the middle overs.

As
India are looking for a stronger hitter for the ICC T20World Cup in Australia, IPL
will be a perfect opportunity for LSG all-rounders to make their case for the
selection, especially Indian players.

Threat: Too many foreign players

Captain
Rahul and mentor Gambhir will have their task cut out as they will look to
finalise four foreign players for the playing XI. While all-rounder Stoinis and
wicketkeeper-batter De Kock are likely to walk into the team. LSG have too many
options to select their next two foreign players.

LSG
will also have to make a choice between Jason Holder and his countrymen Kyle
Mayers and Evin Lewis. Similarly, it would be a toss-up between pacer Chameera
and Wood to partner with Avesh Khan to take the responsibility for the pace
attack.