India pacer Shardul Thakur engaged in a hilarious banter with KL Rahul asking him what would be his budget in case IPL franchise Lucknow Giants acquire him for the mega auctions. Rahul, who has been named the new skipper of IPL franchise Lucknow, said that the team would buy him at his base price. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal was then heard saying, “You do not have a budget for God,” referring to Shardul who is called “Lord” by his teammates and fans.
Stylish opener KL Rahul, Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi are all set to be picked by the Lucknow IPL franchise via draft ahead of the mega auction, scheduled for February 12 and 13 in Bangalore.
Rahul, who will lead India in the ODI series in South Africa, in all likelihood will also captain the Lucknow, which was bought for Rs 7,090 crore (USD 940 million approx.) last October by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group.
The 29-year-old has been one of the most consistent batters in the IPL since the 2018. The opener led Punjab Kings in the last two seasons but he wanted a change and was later released by the management.
After starting his IPL career in 2013 when Rahul was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore, he went to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, and was traded back to Royal Challengers in 2016 before the Punjab franchise (then Kings XI Punjab) paid Rs 11 crore to buy him in the 2018 auction.
While the Punjab team didn’t perform as per the expectations under his leadership, Rahul had a great outing with the bat. He scored 2,548 runs at an average of 56.62 including 25 fifty-plus scores — two of them hundreds — in 55 innings in four IPL seasons with Punjab. However, his strike rate was a point of discussion.
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