IPL 2024 auction: Will Lucknow's light purse be enough to get heavy squad?

Lucknow Super Giants will be going in the auction with Rs 13.15 crore in their purse and they would have spend strategically to get six players, two of which could be overseas

They say a light purse makes for a heavy heart and heading into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have the lightest purse and they still need six players, two of whom could be overseas. But does that mean they will exit the auctions with a heavy heart as well? They might end up with a heavy squad as well.  

Check IPL auction 2024 LIVE UPDATES and full list of sold and unsold players here

All that the Super Giants currently need is a bit of a strategy to get the impact players in their limited budget of Rs 13.15 crore. 

Purse Remaining- Rs 13.15 crore

Slots Available- 6, Overseas- 2

Lucknow retained their core of the two seasons while heading into the auction in the third. They have their openers settled in KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock and the middle order looks confident as well with Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran in it. 

Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya are their finishers. In the bowling department, they have Mohsin Khan and Mark Wood as two pacers and Ravi Bishnoi and Pandya as two spinners. Yudhvir Singh could be the third pacer for them and the part-time bowling of Stoinis, Badoni and Hooda could be added advantage 

Retained Players

KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq

Thus, what the Lucknow side need is a perfect Indian pacer and Indian batters who could work when someone like Hooda and Badoni fail to flourish. They also need a replacement for Wood as he cannot go all the way in one season without injuries. 

Target players for Lucknow Super Giants

Harshal Patel/ Siddarth Kaul/ Ravi Teja

The Indian pacers that Lucknow could go for are Harshal Patel, Siddarth Kaul and Ravi Teja, all of whom are experienced pacers and have done brilliantly well in the last domestic season. 

Arshin Kulkarni

One Indian batter that Lucknow could go for is Under1-98 player Arshin Kulkarni. He is an all-rounder who can bat well and has the power to bowl fast brilliantly as well. If not him, Lucknow could go for Shashank Singh, Ankit Bawne or Ankit Kumar as well. 

Alzarri Joseph/ Mitchell Starc

As far as Wood’s replacements are concerned, Alzarri Joseph and Mitchell Starc would be the target players for the Lucknow side. Unfortunately, they do not have a lot of money so they might also go for someone like Brydon Carse or Keemo Paul as well.  

Best Probable playing 11 if they get what they want in IPL 2024 auction

KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Mark Wood, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yudhvir Singh