"He might just hold the key to everything" - Aakash Chopra on Lucknow Super Giants' acquisition of Nicholas Pooran
Aakash Chopra reckons the Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) fortunes in IPL 2023 might be defined by Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis' performances.
LSG acquired Pooran for a whopping sum of ₹16 crore at the mini-auction in Kochi on Friday, December 23. They also bought nine other players for a total sum of ₹3.8 crore.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra reflected on some of the Lucknow Super Giants' acquisitions at the auction. Regarding Pooran, he said:
"Nicholas Pooran is their biggest purchase. They broke the entire bank on Nicholas Pooran. Their fortunes will solely depend on how they use Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis. They haven't been able to use Marcus Stoinis well thus far. We will have to see how Nicholas Pooran plays because he might just hold the key to everything."
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels the limited supply of overseas middle-order batters at the auction helped the former West Indies skipper attract huge bids, explaining:
"Nicholas Pooran is a perfect example of supply and demand. The last year was extremely ordinary but he was very expensive. But he has gone even more expensive this year, he has left his team's captaincy as well. His stars are going down if you see his performances but if you see his price, you say wow."
Pooran scored 306 runs at a decent average of 38.25 and an impressive strike rate of 144.33 for the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2022. However, he had a middling year for the Windies in T20I cricket and stepped down as their limited-overs skipper after they failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
"Jaydev Unadkat is a good acquisition" - Aakash Chopra on the Lucknow Super Giants' other buys
As for some of the other Lucknow Super Giants' buys, Chopra observed:
"Jaydev Unadkat is a good acquisition, they got him at base price. They have added more all-rounders in the form of Daniel Sams and Romario Shepherd. They have picked a leg-spinner in the form of Amit Mishra."
The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player reckons the Lucknow Super Giants can use Amit Mishra and Ayush Badoni as their impact players in the bowling and batting departments respectively, elaborating:
"Amit Mishra could be their designated impact player in bowling. If I see in the batting, Ayush Badoni could be their impact player because the rest of them are all-rounders, whether it is Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis or Nicholas Pooran."
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Chopra doesn't see Romario Shepherd and Daniel Sams in LSG's preferred playing XI. He named Quinton de Kock, Stoinis, Pooran and Mark Wood as the four overseas players they are likely to field.