Mumbai: KL Rahul’s stars are shining bright.
Set to lead Team India in the three-match ODI series against South Africa starting on January 19, the stylish opener from Karnataka has been picked by the Lucknow franchise for the new-look IPL which will feature 10 teams from this season. He will almost certainly be named skipper of the team.
Rahul cost the Lucknow franchise — which has been bought by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group – Rs 15 crore. They also roped in Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis (Rs 11 crore) and young Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 4 crore).
Rahul had led Punjab Kings XI last season, while Stoinis was with Delhi Capitals.
Ahmedabad, the other new franchise acquired by CVC Capital Partners, have also named their three preliminary choices – allrounder Hardik Pandya (15 crore), Afghanistan star Rashid Khan (Rs 15 crore) and Team India opener Shubman Gill (Rs 7 crore).
This is the first time that Hardik, who is set to lead the Ahmedabad franchise, won’t be playing for Mumbai Indians. Rashid, on the other hand, was a regular feature for Sunrisers Hyderabad who surprisingly decided not to retain him.
Both new IPL franchises have thus set in motion the process of building their teams. They were allowed to buy three players each from among players who were not retained by the eight existing franchises.
The rest of the players will be acquired from the mega players’ auction to be held in Bengaluru on February 13 and 14.
PLAYERS RETAINED BY EXISTING TEAMS
Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja (16 crore), MS Dhoni (12 crore), Moeen Ali (8 crore), Ruturaj Gaikwad (6 crore)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Andre Russell (12 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (8 crore), Venkatesh Iyer (8 crore), Sunil Narine (6 crore)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (14 crore), Abdul Samad (4 crore), Umran Malik (4 crore)
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (16 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (12 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (8 crore), Kieron Pollard (6 crore)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (15 crore), Glenn Maxwell (11 crore), Mohammed Siraj (7 crore)
Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (16 crore), Axar Patel (9 crore), Prithvi Shaw (7.5 crore), Anrich Nortje (6.5 crore)
Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (14 crore), Jos Buttler (10 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (4 crore)
Punjab Kings: Mayank Agarwal (12 crore), Arshdeep Singh (4 crore)
PLAYERS BOUGHT BY NEW TEAMS
Ahmedabad franchise: Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill
Lucknow franchise: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi.
