A mega auction will be held ahead of the IPL 2022 season due to the addition of two more franchises. The eight franchises would be able to keep a maximum of four players on their rosters, according to sources. Due to the addition of two additional clubs to the world’s most popular franchise T20 tournament, the IPL 2022 will be a ten-team event. The next edition of the Indian Premier League will see the addition of two new franchises: Lucknow and Ahmedabad. CVC Capital Partners owns the franchise in Ahmedabad, while the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group owns the franchise in Lucknow.

Furthermore, the two new franchises may be allowed to select three players from the auction pool directly. In this article, we’ll look at three players that could lead the Lucknow franchise in the IPL 2022.

Shreyas Iyer

It came as a huge surprise when Delhi Capitals (DC) decided not to re-appoint Iyer as coach for the UAE leg of the IPL 2021. Iyer has brilliantly led DC for three consecutive seasons since being promoted to the position midway through the 2018 IPL season. After seven consecutive seasons of failure, Delhi reached the IPL playoffs in 2019 and advanced to the IPL final in 2020 under his captaincy.
Iyer has a track record of success as a captain and as a middle-order batsman. In his IPL career, he has scored 2,375 runs at an average of 31.66 and a strike rate of 123.95. With other players likely to overtake Iyer on DC’s retention list, he becomes a potential captaincy option for the Lucknow side.

KL Rahul 

With reports that Rahul is set to leave the Punjab Kings (PBKS), there is a lot of buzz in India about the Karnataka right-future hander’s in the IPL. If PBKS does not retain Rahul, will he return to his roots and play for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) next year, or will he play for one of the two new teams in a fresh start?
In any scenario, given his class and form at the top of the order, the Lucknow franchise should target KL Rahul. The graceful batsman has amassed 1,889 runs from 41 innings in the last three seasons of the IPL, with an average of 57.24 and a strike rate of 134.25.
PBKS may not have had the success they had hoped for under Rahul’s captaincy, but it was due to their ineffective batting unit and inexperienced bowling attack rather than any leadership concerns. Lucknow should expect different results if they can back up Rahul’s possible appointment with a strong line-up.

Ravichandran Ashwin

An off-spinner who has performed admirably for DC but is unlikely to be retained due to the presence of stronger contenders. Since joining the DC camp in 2020, Ashwin has taken 20 wickets at 7.54 runs per over for the team. In the most recent season of the IPL, though, he was not at his best, claiming only 7 wickets from 13 innings while going for 7.41 in a low-scoring game.
Few will deny that Ashwin is one of the IPL’s all-time greats, with 145 wickets and a 6.41 economy rate. Ashwin also has some captaincy experience under his belt from his time with the Punjab franchise in the 2018 and 2019 IPL.

The Lucknow franchise will play its home games at the newly-built Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, which has already hosted a few T20I matches.
One significant focus for the Lucknow-based team ahead of the IPL 2022 will be to construct a squad that will serve them well for at least the next three-year cycle of the league.