With less than a week to go until the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League, the excitement among the fans keeps rising as their favorites start joining respective camps. For the Lucknow fans, the joy doubled as Keshav Maharaj joined the team. The South African cricketer is Hindu by religion and has on several occasions spoken about his faith. LSG took to Instagram to share a video of his arrival, with the clip containing a specific instance of KL Rahul and his banter where the popular ‘Ram Siya Ram’ song was played in the background when Maharaj had come out to bat, and Rahul told him, “Every time you come, they play this song.”
KL Rahul also instilled excitement amongst the fans with his post of performing on-field training drills at NCA in Bangalore. He was sidelined from India’s five-game Test series against England due to a quadriceps injury. His availability would be very crucial for the franchise to have a great season.
This season, LSG’s batting lineup looks solid, with the likes of De Kock, Kyle Mayers, KL Rahul, and Ayush Badoni. They have also traded in Devdutt Padikkal from the Rajasthan Royals, who recently had a good test debut in Dharmashala against England. Also, the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran add destructive firepower for causing chaos in the opposing teams. Riding on their batting attitude, Lucknow can easily turn matches in their favour.
The thing they might be lacking is the bowling department, as, except for Mark Wood, no other speedster guarantees exceptional numbers consistently. Despite picking up pacers like Mavi and Willey in the auction, LSG’s pace attack lacks quality. They will bank on young pacers such as Mohsin Khan and Yash Thakur to step up and deliver effective bowling performances.
Mark Wood, Quinton De Kock, and Kyle Mayers would be the most effective players for the franchise, and their availability throughout the season will be a headache. In 2023, Mark Wood left the league without completing the second half of the tournament, where the bowling unit looked ordinary.