The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday shared a letter of intent (LOI) with the new IPL franchises- Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
The Ahmedabad franchise, which was bought by CVC Capital for ₹5,625 crore, has started working on formation of its team management. As per media reports, former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra is the frontrunner to be appointed as Ahmedabad’s head coach while Baroda all-rounder Hardik Pandya is tipped to be the captain of their team.
Hardik was not retained by Mumbai Indians (MI) for IPL 2022 as the five-time IPL champions went ahead with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard as their four picks for retention ahead of the mega auction.
Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad franchise is also looking to sign Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan and former Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan.
On the other hand, KL Rahul is almost certain to take over the captaincy of team Lucknow. According to a TOI report, the Sanjiv Goenka-owned Lucknow team are eyeing Australia allrounder Marcus Stoinis and South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada as backups if they fail to get Rashid Khan.
Also, it will be interesting to see who will sign Shreyas Iyer. The middle-order opted to go under the hammer after the Delhi Capitals (DC) was handed over the captaincy to Rishabh Pant. The report further added that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are interested in Iyer and he can be made the captain of their side.
