Their objective of forming a strong core achieved with the retention of men like Nicholas Pooran and Mayank Yadav, Lucknow Super Giants are now aiming to bring back their players from last year's squad in the upcoming IPL mega auction, said head coach Justin Langer on Saturday.
LSG ended retained five players -- four of whom are Indians, and two of whom are uncapped, including swashbuckling West Indian batter Pooran.
"We are really pleased with announcing the four of the most talented Indian players in the country at the moment. We are setting a base for those strong Indian players -- Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Ayush Badoni, Mohsin Khan -- four incredibly talented players and I'm excited about that," Langer said in a video posted on X by the franchise.
"Nicholas Pooran is a dynamic player in world cricket and we can't wait to see him in action again. We have got one more Right To Match (RTM) and we are hoping to pick up as many of our players as possible from last year in the auction.
"Mr Goenka has thought long and hard about this and like I have said, we have talked over and over all the possibilities," the former Australia opener said.
LSG released KL Rahul before the team submitted its list of retained players by the October 31 deadline.
Rahul, who had captained the team for the three seasons since it came into existence in 2022, was let go following LSG's seventh-place finish in IPL 2024.
Rahul will now go into the mega auction.
"The retention for next year's IPL was really tough. There were lots of very careful deliberations, strong considerations to come up with the list of retentions," Langer said.
The side will go into the mega auction with a purse of Rs 69 crore.
West Indies batter Pooran was retained for a whopping Rs 21 crore, the joint second-most paid to a player in this retention cycle along with Royal Challengers Bengaluru talisman Virat Kohli and behind only Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore).
Rahul was LSG's top-scorer in IPL 2024 with 520 runs at a strike rate of 136, but Pooran's 499 runs came at a strike rate of 178.
Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore), Mayank (Rs 11 crore), Mohsin (Rs 4 crore) and Badoni (Rs 11 crore) are the other players retained by LSG.
