The Lucknow Super Giants are one of the two new franchises that have been added to the prestigious TATA IPL 2022 to make it a 10 team tournament. Besides all the excitement and cricketing suspense being provided to fans by the idea of having 10 teams in a tournament, it will also be a quite interesting thing to see as to how these two new teams adhere to the league.
The Indian Premier League as we all know is the toughest of all T20 leagues in the world. Hence conquering the IPL trophy certainly won’t be an easy task for a franchise that is new into the tournament. All their tactics, team plan, knowledge of the game and the overall performance of their players has to be of top-notch quality if they really wish to have the trophy in their debut season.
The Lucknow Super Giants managed to surprise everybody with their fantastic picks during the Auction of IPL 2022 as they brought in some real quality into their squad which might well be the reason they are being thrived as title contenders even prior to the commencement of the league.
The first step towards building a team shall certainly be to find a good set of openers who shall provide the side with a blistering start in each of the games and thus successfully set the tone of the innings right from the first over.
Thanks to their good outcome during the auction ahead of the season, the supergiants have a fine amount of options to chose from as to who shall fill the opening slot in their side.
Given below are three of the most probable batting pairs which shall open the innings for Lucknow in this IPL season:-
1. KL Rahul and Quinton De Kock
The first superhit opening pair that Lucknow could use in this IPL season is that of KL Rahul and Quinton De Kock. Both these batsmen have made their mark in almost all of their previous IPL seasons and have the similar ability to counterattack the opposition bowlers from the early stages of an innings.
Both Rahul and Quinton De Kock are first choice openers for their nations and thus it really isn’t supposed to be a problem for them to open the batting for their franchise this season. De Kock had been in red hot form for his former side, Mumbai Indians for the past few seasons.
On the other hand, KL Rahul also had been the best batsman on his side while opening the batting for the Punjab Kings in the earlier seasons. Considering their sublime form and good performances while opening the batting earlier it is highly expected that the above-mentioned combination shall be the one which Lucknow shall be going within this upcoming IPL season.
KL Rahul (IPL stats):-
Matches – 94, Runs – 3273, Average – 47.4, Strike Rate – 136.4
Quinton De Kock (IPL stats):-
Matches – 77, Runs – 2256, Average – 31.3, Strike Rate – 130.9
2. Evin Lewis and KL Rahul
Another good looking combination for the Lucknow Super Giants is to use the opening pair of KL Rahul and Evin Lewis to open the batting. Evin Lewis who has displayed his abilities as an opener earlier in the IPL for several other franchises has the ability to play both paces and spin with equal dominance.
The hard-hitting batsman from West Indies has proved his worth on several occasions the CPL and his rare ability to make good use of the powerplay to put pressure on the bowlers is surely going to help his side be a step ahead of the opposition early in the game.
Using the Rahul-Lewis duo shall also provide Lucknow with a fine left-right combination at the top of the order. Thus considering all of the above factors it is highly likely for this new franchise to go with this opening combination in this year’s IPL.
Evin Lewis (IPL stats):-
Matches – 21, Runs – 581, Average – 27.7, Strike Rate – 138.0
3. KL Rahul and Manan Vohra
A possible opening combination for Lucknow might also be available in the form of asking Manan Vohra to open the batting with captain KL Rahul. Vohra who has been a regular part of the IPL for many seasons now has played for several franchises so far in his career.
The opening slot has been filled by him for the majority of the sides he’s played for to date. The former Rajasthan Royals player has shown his abilities opening the batting in various situations for the team. He has the ability to steer the innings safely even when the side is in trouble after losing early wickets.
His versatile batting style makes him quite unique and this is the most probable reason as to why the team would not completely rule out the possibility of using him as an opener besides a certain KL Rahul for this year’s IPL.
Manan Vohra (IPL stats):-
Matches – 53, Runs – 1054, Average – 22.4, Strike Rate – 130.6
Our Prediction: Although each of the above-discussed pairs shall be available as an option to open the batting for Lucknow this season, we feel that the most suitable and feasible opening combination is that the Lucknow Super Giants are going to opt for is the one including KL Rahul and Quinton De Kock.
Being a new side added to the tournament, Lucknow doesn’t need to burden itself with any sort of previous performances of players and thus they will surely like to go with the players who’ve been in their best form in the most recent times.
Both Rahul and De Kock to everyone’s knowledge have been proving the cricketing world of their abilities since they’ve made improvements in their performances and consistency with each passing year both in international and franchise cricket. Both these batsmen have amassed runs while opening the batting, be it for any side on the planet.
Quinton De Kock was a specialist opener for his previous side, Mumbai Indians who played a major role in winning two of their 5 IPL titles. While on the other hand, KLRahul made it a habit of leading the run-scoring charts while opening the batting for Punjab season after season.
It was his performances while opening the batting which at times used to single-handedly carry his side over the line on many occasions. Thus we strongly feel that the opening combination of KLRahul and Quinton De Kock shall be the one which Lucknow Super Giants will be sending out to open the innings in the IPL 2022.
Also Read:- IPL 2022: Top 3 Possible Opening Partnerships for Chennai Super Kings