The Cricketer's quickfire look at the new franchise ahead of the 2022 season
Captain: KL Rahul. The marquee addition for the new franchise who has registered 600+ runs in three of the last four campaigns.
Coach: Andy Flower. Since producing heroics for England, the ex-Zimbabwe captain has been a regular across franchise competitions and like Rahul, arrives from Punjab Kings.
How did they do last year: N/A
Overseas headliner?
Quinton de Kock. The South African wicketkeeper opener was surprisingly released by Mumbai Indians, where he won two IPL titles in three seasons.
KL Rahul captains Lucknow Super Giants in the new franchise's first IPL season
Indian superstar?
Ravi Bishnoi. It was a real show of faith to sign the 21-year-old up before the auction, but now he must back-up the hype.
Biggest strength?
Rahul, De Kock and Marcus Stoinis is a dreamboat top three combining proven quality and dependable ball striking.
Where's the weakness?
There is no obvious extreme pace option following Mark Wood's withdrawal through injury and they'll be a great deal of onus on the fast-bowling allrounders.
Squad: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Andrew Tye, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, B Sai Sudharsan
Likely starting XI: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, K Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi
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