The franchise acquired the services of six players in the IPL 2026 auction.
Despite releasing a few players that raised quite some eyebrows amongst the spectators, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were regarded as one of the settled teams coming into the IPL 2026 auction. The franchise chose to show a lot of trust on Mayank Yadav, who was a part of the retained players for the LSG squad for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Super Giants had retained six speedsters in their arsenal for the next season, to which they added a couple more in Abu Dhabi. They acquired the services of South African pacer Anrich Nortje for his base price of INR 2 Crore, and also bagged Naman Tiwari for a cost of INR 1 Crore. Despite these picks, it feels as if the franchise were not able to live up to their expectations at the auction table and made a few blunders in terms of bidding for their players.
After trading Shardul Thakur to the Mumbai Indians (MI), the franchise also parted ways with the likes of David Miller and Ravi Bishnoi, which gave them a decent purse of INR 22.95 Crore to play with. The choices that they went for raised a lot of questions because they did not cover the loopholes that existed in the team.
Well, to be honest, this was not a mistake. Probably, it would be too harsh on the players or the franchise to rule this out as a blunder. However, one thing that the franchise would need to be aware of, would be the management of players who are injury prone.
That being said, Mayank Yadav has spent a lot of time away from the game in recent times due to injury. Though they have eight pace-bowling options, a lot of experience will come from Anrich Nortje and Avesh Khan, one of which is injury prone. To add to that, bowlers like Akash Singh and Mohsin Khan will need some experience in their wings.
The LSG squad could have hunted for a genuine pace-bowling option at the auction table, which should have been one of their important targets. However, their focus will now shift towards making sure that their bowlers are taken care of, in terms of their fitness.
The Australian wicketkeeper-batter had made it abundantly clear that his availability for the 19th edition of the IPL would be too less as compared to last season, due to personal reasons. However, the LSG management bid heavily for the wicketkeeper-batter, taking his price up to a humongous INR 8.6 Crore, at which they signed the player.
The fact that he was released by Punjab Kings (PBKS) ahead of the IPL 2026 auction had a lot to do with his availability for the next season. To add to that, the LSG squad already contains Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran, who are proven wicketkeepers. Hence, bidding for Josh Inglis, let alone acquiring him for INR 8.6 Crore made no sense.
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One of the biggest problems for the franchise would be that they are a very top-heavy side. The likes of Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant can bat in the top four, and that is exactly how it should be. However, the team lacks a finisher.
This was the exact reason why the LSG management should have gone harder behind Liam Livingstone, who was sold to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for INR 13 Crore. LSG were in the bid until INR 12.80 Crore, but failed to raise the bar above INR 13 Crore – something which they should have done. Now with the squad at hand, Abdul Samad looks to be their only finishing hope.
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