"Want players thinking of playing for the franchise, not India" - Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir

The new Lucknow-based Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise unveiled its name today - the Lucknow Super Giants. The franchise has roped in former India batter Gautam Gambhir as its mentor.

Gambhir has tremendous IPL experience, leading the Kolkata Knight Riders to two titles. He has also been a part of India's World Cup-winning squads in the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 World Cup.

Gambhir spoke to journalist Boria Majumdar on 'Backstage with Boria' about how he had approached the captaincy in the league and one philosophy that was key for him as a franchise skipper in the IPL.

"When I’ve captained, I have always said I don’t want players thinking of playing for India. I want players thinking of playing for the franchise. Playing for India is just the byproduct," Gambhir said.

He went on to add:

"If you think of playing for India and you start saying that Lucknow gives me that platform to play for India, then you are being dishonest to the franchise. But if you were to play for Lucknow and deliver it for Lucknow, eventually you will end up playing for India."

He further elucidated on his point:

"So probably in those two months, I would not want any of the players saying or thinking that my job or my ultimate aim is to play for India. Their ultimate aim for those two months is to win the tournament for the franchise. And if they look to do that with their performances, they will eventually go on to play for India."

"And IPL is not a platform to go on to play for India. IPL is a platform to showcase your talent to the world, and that is how players should think about it," Gambhir added.

The Lucknow Super Giants signed up KL Rahul as one of their draft picks ahead of the IPL 2022 auction and the India batter has been named captain of the franchise.

Speaking about his captaincy style, KL Rahul said:

"The more I’m captaining, the more I am realising that the more instinctive calls I am making, I am getting better results. You try and read the situation of a game the best possible and rely on your instincts."

KL Rahul will captain Lucknow Super Giants.

Rahul, who captained Punjab Kings in the IPL and has recently led India during the tour of South Africa, further said:

"I am somebody who will rely a little bit on data as well. I do a little bit of homework before the game and try and sit with analysts to see if there are patterns or matchups, but after that, on the field, it’s all instinct and what you feel is the best call for the team in that particular situation."

"Will go into Mega Auction with open mind" - Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka

The Lucknow franchise was bought by the Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG group. Sanjiv Goenka, who previously owned former IPL franchise Rising Pune Super Giant, is the owner of the new team. He revealed that Lucknow Super Giants will go into the IPL 2022 auction with an open mind.

When asked by Boria Majumdar about how they will approach the auction, Goenka replied:

"With an open mind. With a plan, but completely open mind. There will be moments in those two days when you’ll have to think on your feet, when things don’t go as per the way you want it to go. So you’ll have to think, you’ll have to respond, you’ll have to act fast. There will be certain decisions which will be based on logic and data. There might be a couple which will go on instinct."

He gave an example of when he broke the bank for Ben Stokes for Pune despite being advised against it by their analyst and told not to go beyond ₹10 Crore for the England all-rounder by the coach.

"I remember it was when we were doing the Pune auction in the second year and there was a question of Ben Stokes. The analyst told us he is not someone who’s consistent in his temperament and the ECB will only allow him to be there for 12 games. And I was looking at his track record of winning games. And I said you need to win 8 games out of 14 to get in to the playoffs. If he can deliver 5 games for me, that’s my job more than 50 per cent done. So I went for broke on Ben Stokes," he said.

The Lucknow Super Giants owner went on to add:

"We paid a reasonably high sum and he actually delivered five games and almost a sixth game to us. It was not a decision that was based on logic. It was that instinct at that point of time and it paid dividends."

The Lucknow Super Giants picked KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi and will now look to build the team around the trio in the IPL 2022 mega auction.