With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 auction coming on December 16, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will look to fill an important gap in their squad. They need a backup option for their opening batters Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh, who were excellent last season. For this role, there will be a few players who could be among the LSG targets.
The two LSG openers, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, were among the best performers for their team last season. The Australian Marsh scored 627 runs at an average of 48.23 and a strike rate of 163.70. He hit one century and six half centuries. Marsh finished the tournament among the top five highest run scorers and was also his team’s leading run scorer.
Aiden Markram from South Africa scored 445 runs in 13 matches at an average of 34.23 and a strike rate of 148.82. He scored five half centuries. This was Markram’s best ever IPL season, as it was his highest run tally in a single season.
One area LSG will look to strengthen is the backup options for these two, especially because Markram missed the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) due to national duty. So in the upcoming season, if a similar situation happens where any of their openers misses a match due to international commitments or injury, the franchise will want proper backups in their LSG target players list.
There are several talented top order batters in domestic cricket who are making headlines and could be among the LSG targets. One such name is Tushar Raheja from Tamil Nadu.
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Tushar Raheja caught everyone’s attention during the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2025. He was the leading run scorer in the tournament. The 24 year old scored 488 runs in nine matches at an average of 61.00 and a strike rate of 185.55, along with five half centuries. Because of this performance, he was selected for Tamil Nadu to play in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025-26. He has played five matches and has scored 123 runs so far.
Tushar has been doing well in the top order for quite some time. In the 2024 TNPL season, he finished as the second leading run scorer with 324 runs at an average of 36.00 and a strike rate of 150.00. He could be one of the best domestic options to feature in the LSG targets as a back-up in the auction. Like Marsh and Markram, his strike rate is also impressive and he turns his starts into big scores. So he is one of the names which can be included in the LSG target players list.
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