Due to a hamstring injury, captain KL Rahul missed the second half of the 2023 Indian Premier League. He has been out for nearly two months due to a quadricep tendon injury, nearly a year later. The PTI confirmed on Monday that he will be fit for LSG opening game after receiving the all-clear from the NCA. They have good keeping alternatives in Quinton de Kock and Nicholas Pooran, therefore he might not keep wicket in the first few games.
At the 2024 auction, LSG added Shivam Mavi, David Willey, Arshad Khan, and Arshin Kulkarni—who came to notice in the recent Under-19 World Cup—to their seam-bowling roster. The lone spinner they brought in to provide backup for Ravi Bishnoi was M Siddharth.
They signed hard-hitting middle-order batsman Ashton Turner at the auction and traded in Devdutt Padikkal, who was just awarded a Test cap, to improve their batting.
LSG has also made adjustments to their coaching staff. They hired Lance Klusener as assistant coach and Justin Langer as head coach after deciding not to extend Andy Flower’s contract. Langer has won three BBL titles with the Perth Scorchers and the T20 World Cup with Australia in 2021, but this will be his first IPL job.
Rahul might bat in the middle order this IPL because he has sufficient top-order options in Padikkal, de Kock, Kyle Mayers, and Deepak Hooda. Pooran and Marcus Stoinis, who present a serious threat to any bowling attack, will go with him. However, they failed to account for the absence of runs from Indian batters during the previous game, particularly in the Eliminator. Hooda only scored 84 runs in 12 innings pitched. This time around, the LSG management would be expecting for substantially greater profits.
Additionally, LSG has a lineup that includes all-around players like Willey, Stoinis, K Gowtham, Prerak Mankad, Kulkarni, and Krunal Pandya.
New Players in LSG : Devdutt Padikkal, Shamar Joseph, David Willey, Ashton Turner, Shivam Mavi
Full Squad : KL Rahul, Ayush Badoni, Deepak Hooda, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Prerak Mankad, Yudhvir Singh, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Arshad Khan. Overseas: Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Shamar Joseph
Possible XI : Devdutt Padikkal, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Naveen ul Haq, Shivam Mavi
