IPL2024: Before Krunal Pandya, the Lucknow Super Giants choose an international player as vice captain

Nicholas Pooran, a former West Indies white-ball captain, has been named vice captain of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ahead of the 2024 IPL season. After spending an incredible INR 16 crore to join LSG last year, Pooran will team up with skipper KL Rahul as the two-year-old team looks to go beyond the eliminator after making the playoffs both years.

Given that Rahul was forced to miss the second half of the tournament owing to injury, Krunal Pandya captained the Lucknow team in six games during Rahul’s absence, making Pooran’s selection noteworthy. Although LSG didn’t formally name a second captain for the 2023 IPL, Krunal was widely believed to be Rahul’s backup when he took over as captain in the later part of the competition.

LSG played six games under Krunal; they won three, lost two, and had one match against the Chennai Super Kings spoiled. But as Lucknow looks to win their first championship, Pooran has been designated Rahul’s new deputy this season.

During the first two years of the IPL, LSG has performed well. But now that Justin Langer has been named head coach and LSG has added some quality new players in the shape of Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Mavi, David Willey, M Siddharth, and Shamar Joseph (in lieu of Mark Wood), they seem to have a much more complete team and will aim to contend.

How the LSG team performs this year with captain KL Rahul batting in the middle order after starting the innings the previous two seasons is another unique facet of the team.

The Lucknow Super Giants’ 2024 IPL roster: Nicholas Pooran (vc), KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ayush Badoni, Devdutt Padikkal, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Shamar Joseph, Mohsin Khan, Mohsin Khan, Amit Mishra, Yudhvir Charak, Prerak Mankad, Shivam Mavi, Yash Thakur, Arshin Kulkarni, M Siddharth, Arshad Khan