Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer has revealed that the team’s strategy for the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction is to buy back as many players from last year’s squad as possible. This comes after LSG retained five players, including Nicholas Pooran and Mayank Yadav, to form a strong core ahead of the auction.

Surprisingly, LSG released their captain KL Rahul , who had been the skipper of the side since it came into existence in 2022. 

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LSG head coach Justin Langer reveals auction plans

Justin Langer expressed his excitement about the retained players, particularly the four talented Indian players – Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, and Mohsin Khan. He also praised Pooran, calling him a “dynamic player in world cricket.”

“We are really pleased with announcing the four of the most talented Indian players in the country at the moment. We are setting a base for those strong Indian players Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan four incredibly talented players and I’m excited about that,” Langer said in a video posted on X by the franchise.

“Nicholas Pooran is a dynamic player in world cricket and we can’t wait to see him in action again. We have got one more Right To Match and we are hoping to pick up as many of our players as possible from last year in the auction.

“Mr Goenka has thought long and hard about this and like I have said, we have talked over and over all the possibilities,” the former Australia opener said.

“The retention for next year’s IPL was really tough. There were lots of very careful deliberations, strong considerations to come up list of retentions,” Langer said.

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The side will go into the mega auction with a purse of ₹69 crore.

West Indies batter Pooran was retained for a whopping ₹21 crore, the joint second-most paid to a player in this retention cycle along with Royal Challengers Bengaluru talisman Virat Kohli and behind only Sunrisers Hyderabad ‘s Heinrich Klaasen.

Rahul was LSG’s top-scorer in IPL 2024 with 520 runs at a strike rate of 136, but Pooran’s 499 runs came at a strike rate of 178.

Bishnoi, Mayank, Mohsin, and Badoni are the other players retained by LSG.