Indian T20 League: Five players to watch out for in Gujarat vs Lucknow match

The new entrants of the Indian T20 League, Gujarat and Lucknow will kick-off their campaign against each other on March 28. They will play at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This will be the first time in the history of the ITL that a team from Gujarat and Lucknow will compete in the league.

Both teams had been inducted last year. In this listicle, we will discuss five names to watch out for in the first-ever game between the two sides.

Five Players To Watch Out for in Gujarat vs Lucknow match

KL Rahul

The right-hander has been one of the top performers in the ITL in the last couple of years. He has amassed 670 and 626 runs in the last two seasons respectively, despite his former team, Punjab performing badly. This year, he will lead the Lucknow and the fans would hope that he can perform the same for the new franchise.

Quinton de Kock

The wicketkeeper-batter from South Africa contributed to Mumbai's title wins in 2019 and 2020 with 529 and 503 runs respectively. The left-hander had a poor outing last year with 297 runs and would like to repeat his 2019 and 2020 performances this year. 

 Shubman Gill

The India Test opening batter has been accumulating more than 400 runs in the last two seasons. In those seasons, he played for Kolkata. Now, he will represent Gujarat and would like to repeat his performances. However, the only criticism of his batting is his strike rate, which is below 120. This kind of strike rate is termed as shambolic in the shortest format.

Rashid Khan

The leg-spinner from Afghanistan has been one of the most feared bowlers in ITL history. In the 76 games played from 2017 to 2021, the right-arm bowler has 93 wickets to his name. He has been picking more than 15 wickets every season. This year, he will play for Gujarat and will be keen to do well. He is also a handy batter with 222 runs, striking at 137.04.

Avesh Khan

The right-arm pacer took 24 wickets for Delhi last year. This performance earned a place in the Indian team for the T20I side last month. Apart from this, he also earned costly bids, which made him the 'costliest uncapped player' in the history of the cash-rich league in the mega auction. With his extra pace and bounce, he will be a key player.