Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL

A new franchise with a history

Lucknow Super Giants were added for 2022, owned by the RPSG group that had run Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017, and bought for more than any franchise before them. Before the 2022 mega auction they signed KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi, and at the auction they paid ₹10 crore for Avesh Khan, then the highest price for an uncapped player.

The Rahul years

With Rahul as captain, Lucknow reached the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, both times going out in the eliminator. At the 2023 auction they paid ₹16 crore for Nicholas Pooran, who became their most dangerous batter. They missed the playoffs in 2024, and Rahul left before the next mega auction.

The record buy

At the 2025 mega auctionLucknow kept Pooran, Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan and Ayush Badoni, then paid ₹27 crore for Rishabh Pant, the most any player has cost, and made him captain. His first season scored 269 runs. More of Lucknow's auction money has gone on wicketkeeper-batters than at any other franchise, almost entirely because of Pant and Pooran.

Lucknow in CricArcade

In IPL Dynasty you can take Lucknow into the 2025 auction and decide whether you would have spent ₹27 crore on one player.

Pace and power

Lucknow have spent more of their auction money on wicketkeeper-batters than any other franchise, and have leaned on pace. Their first mega auction brought Jason Holder, bought for ₹8.75 crore, who took 14 wickets, and Avesh Khan, who took 18. In 2024 the franchise introduced Mayank Yadav, a young fast bowler whose speed in his first matches drew attention across the league; he was kept before the 2025 mega auction despite injuries limiting his appearances.

Gautam Gambhir was Lucknow's mentor for their first two seasons before returning to Kolkata, where he helped build the 2024 title side. The franchise plays at the Ekana stadium in Lucknow, where slow pitches in the early seasons produced low totals and shaped a side built to bowl.

Lucknow by the numbers

Like Gujarat, Lucknow have been through two mega auctions and three mini auctions, and their average price per player bought is among the highest in the archive. More than two thirds of their auction money was spent at the two mega auctions, and they were the smallest spenders at the 2024 auction.

A third of all Lucknow's auction spending has gone on wicketkeeper-batters, far more than any other franchise, almost entirely on Pant and Pooran. It reflects a clear idea of where the franchise wanted its runs to come from, and makes the return on those two purchases the measure of the franchise's auction record.

The first seasons

Lucknow's first season was a strong one, and it set expectations the franchise has found hard to meet since. With Rahul opening and Quinton de Kock beside him, bought for ₹6.75 crore and scoring 508 runs that season, they finished third in the league and lost the eliminator to Bangalore. In 2023 Rahul was injured midway through the season and Krunal Pandya took over; Lucknow reached the eliminator again and lost it to Mumbai.

Two playoff places in two seasons is a better start than most franchises in this archive managed, and it was built on the squad assembled at the 2022 mega auction, where Lucknow spent more than all but three franchises. The 2024 season, when they missed the playoffs, was followed by a near-complete change of leadership: Rahul left, and the franchise built its next side around Pant and Pooran.

Nicholas Pooran's transformation from an inconsistent spell at Punjab and Hyderabad into Lucknow's most dangerous batter is one of the better examples in this archive of a player finding the right franchise.

The uncapped finds

Lucknow's first auction also produced two cheap signings who lasted. Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan were each bought uncapped for ₹20 lakh in 2022; Badoni became a middle-order regular and Mohsin a left-arm seamer the franchise trusted with the new ball. Both were kept before the 2025 mega auction, alongside Mayank Yadav, so three of the five players Lucknow kept were ones the franchise had developed itself.

Reading Lucknow's tables

Lucknow's spend chart is dominated by the two mega auctions, and the record-buy table by Pant and Pooran. The retention lists show the change between them: Rahul, Stoinis and Bishnoi signed before the first auction, Stoinis playing each of the first three seasons before leaving ahead of the 2025 mega auction, and in 2025 a core built around players the franchise had found and developed. The season table shows two playoff seasons followed by a rebuild, a shape many franchises in this archive have followed. Lucknow are still young enough that the next few auctions will decide what kind of franchise they become.