Lucknow gets big fish KL Rahul for ITL 2022, ropes in Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi as other two players

The upcoming 15th edition of the Indian T20 League (ITL) is all set to welcome two new teams, i.e. Lucknow and Ahmedabad. The hype around the ninth and tenth team have been really high in the last few weeks.

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the Lucknow franchise has signed KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi as their three picks for ITL 2022. The new franchises were allowed to pick three players outside the mega auction. The franchise will now be heading into the ITL 2022 mega auction with a purse of INR 60 crore. While Rahul will cost them INR 15 crore, the shelled INR 11 crore and INR 4 crore for Stoinis and Bishnoi respectively.

This report further states that the Indian opener will also be leading the Uttar-Pradesh based franchise in their maiden appearance of the Indian T20 league. Moreover, the 29-year-old was apparently the first player to be signed by Lucknow. It is to be noted that Rahul has been playing for the Punjab since 2018.

As a matter of fact, the Karnataka batter had an unbelievably successful stint with Punjab, and scored 2548 runs at an average of 56.62. Besides, he scored the most number of runs for them in every season post 2018. As for Stoinis and Bishnoi, both of them have had a decent run in ITL.

The Aussie all-rounder will give the franchise an option of a genuine finisher, and the leggie at INR 4 crore is an absolute steal deal. In the meanwhile, as per reports, the Ahmedabad franchise seems to have signed Hardik Pandya, Rashid and Shubman Gill. The Baroda all-rounder is also expected to lead the franchise.

The mega auction is all set to take place on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore. However, there hasn't been an official confirmation regarding the same yet.