Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir has opened up on his strategy for the mega auction as he said that keeping an eye on the future he kept raising the bid for the youngsters like Avesh Khan who can serve the franchise for a long time. The newly inducted franchise got Avesh Khan at a price of Rs. 10 crores. The 25-year old pacer became the most expensive uncapped player in the history of the IPL auction.
“Avesh is someone we thought we could build the franchise with, alongside Ravi Bishnoi”- Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir said that the team would be built around young players like Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi to keep an eye on the future. He also revealed that the team wanted to get India‘s new pace sensation Prasidh Krishna but couldn’t go for him beyond 9.5 Crores.
“We did go for Prasidh Krishna till INR 9.5 crore. He was always in the scheme of things. But we couldn’t have got any further. When we couldn’t get Prasidh, Avesh was the last in that rank who could bowl quick, so we had to go harder for him,” Gambhir spoke to Xtra Time.
In the IPL 2021, he was the second leading wicket-taker in the tournament as he picked 24 wickets with an economy of 7.37.
“I know some people say that we overpaid certain players but in Avesh’s case, he’s young and can bowl quick. He’s someone you can build the Indian bowling with, and build the bowling department for the future. While people only talk about the present, we thought about the future as well. How many people who are that young can bowl 145 and can also bowl at different stages of the game?” he added.
Gambhir also added that Lucknow has a terrific bowling combination of express pace bowlers and spinners.
“Imagine if Holder and Wood bowl alongside him and you put in Stoinis, it would give you a good balance. If I was captain, it would’ve made me very happy,” said Gambhir.