West Indies national cricket team’s star batsman Nicholas Pooran has officially signed a retention agreement with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction.
Nicholas Pooran has signed with the LSG franchise as their primary retainer and will be paid a salary of INR 18 crore in the Indian Premier League 2025.
KL Rahul to be released by Lucknow Super Giants
KL Rahul, who was signed by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in his debut season as a draft pick, will be released by the franchise. Rahul led LSG very well in his debut season and played a key role in their success.
In 15 matches, he scored 616 runs at an average of 51.33 and a strike rate of 135.38. He also helped LSG qualify for the playoffs, but they lost in Eliminator.
In IPL 2023, Rahul played only 9 matches and scored 274 runs at an average of 34.25 and a strike rate of 113.22 before being ruled out of the entire competition. Also in that season, LSG lost the Eliminator.
Meanwhile, Rahul returned to the team for IPL 2024 and scored 520 runs at an average of 37.14 and a strike rate of 136.12, but LSG did not make the playoffs and finished in 7th place. Franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka was not happy with Rahul’s captaincy and was even seen hitting him on the field after the loss against SRH.
Nicholas Pooran becomes LSG’s number one retainer
According to Cricbuzz, Nicholas Pooran met Sanjiv Goenka at the RPSG group’s Kolkata office on Tuesday and signed on the dotted lines to represent Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the upcoming seasons.
In the Indian Premier League 2023, the franchise bought him for INR 16 crore and he did a good job with the bat in the previous two seasons.
Pooran scored 358 runs at an average of 29.83 and a strike rate of 172.94 in IPL 2023 and 499 runs at an average of 62.37 and a strike rate of 178.21 in IPL 2024. He also has skills of leadership and can keep wickets, besides being an explosive batsman. Nicholas Pooran’s performance in the last two years has led to an increase of Rs 2 million in his salary, and he will now receive Rs 18 million.
“Pooran is committed to LSG, has a winning mentality, thinks deeply and above all, adapts to the batting order and any match situation,” said an LSG official explaining the signing, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
LSG to enter auction with purse of Rs 69 crore
Apart from Nicholas Pooran, LSG will retain Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan, with Badoni and Mohsin falling in the uncapped category.
Overall, Lucknow Super Giants will spend INR 51 crore to retain the above players (INR 18 crore, INR 14 crore, INR 11 crore, INR 4 crore and INR 4 crore).
They will enter the auction with a purse of Rs 69 crore and will need to acquire at least 15 more players to form a strong team.