The Indian T20 League is not far away, with the mega auction for the T20 extravaganza set to be staged in Bengaluru on 12th and 13th February. Ahead of the auction, the BCCI had mandated the new franchises to reveal their team names. While the Lucknow franchise revealed their name as ‘Lucknow Super Giants’ a few days ago, the name of the Ahmedabad franchise was still pending. However, the name of the team has been revealed now. The team will be known as Gujarat Titans.
The team will be led by Hardik Pandya and will also have Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill in the team. Ashish Nehra has been roped in as the head coach, while Gary Kirsten will be the batting coach. Vikram Solanki will be the Director of Cricket. The franchise paid INR 15 crore each to Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan, while Shubman Gill was paid INR 8 crore. The CVC Capital owned franchise now have a purse of 52 crores going into the auction.
Meanwhile, the Lucknow franchise will have KL Rahul as their skipper, while they have also acquired the services of Ravi Bishnoi and Marcus Stoinis. Lucknow will be coached by Andy Flower, while Gautam Gambhir will be the team mentor.
As per reports, the 15th edition of the Indian T20 League is all set to start in the final week of March, with the final being played in the final week of May. The BCC is keen on staging the event in India but if the COVID-19 situation does not improve or get worse, the board is also mulling over staging the tournament in South Africa.
