The Board of Control for Cricket in India has given a final deadline to Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises to submit their draft picks. 22 January is the last day for the same. The mega auction will take place on the 12th and 13th of February. Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan, and Shubman Gill are all expected to join the Ahmedabad franchise ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
If reports from ESPN Cricinfo are to be believed, Hardik will lead Ahmedabad in this season. Moreover, Hardik and Rashid will receive INR 15 crore each. While Shubman Gill will be paid INR 7 crore. Hardik was released by the Mumbai Indians before the auction as they preferred Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah, and Suryakumar Yadav. Rashid, on the other hand, chose to leave Sunrisers Hyderabad. KKR, on the other hand, chose other players over Shubman following a disappointing IPL 2021 season.
Iyer has put his name for the mega auction as he is looking to take the captaincy role
The coaching team for the Ahmedabad franchise has also been settled. With former Indian bowler Ashish Nehra and former South African batter Gary Kirsten sharing the role of head coach. Meanwhile, Vikram Solanki, a former England batter, will serve as the team’s director. This will be the second time that Nehra, Kirsten, and Solanki will be on the same team, having previously served Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Lucknow franchise, on the other hand, is yet to officially confirm their draft picks. It is more or less certain that team India’s limited-overs vice-captain and ex Punjab opener and captain, KL Rahul will be leading this new franchise. It was also expected that Shreyas Iyer would be one of the draft picks but that’s not the case. Iyer has put his name for the mega auction as he is looking to take the captaincy role. Teams like RCB, KKR, PBKS are in dire need of a leader and hence, may likely bid for Shreyas.