IPL 2022: ‘I Had Mentally Gone Back To My Playing Days’: Gautam Gambhir Underlines The Challenge Of Building The Lucknow Supergiants (LSG) Squad

Gautam Gambhir has revealed the challenge of having to mentor the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets nearer. The Lucknow-based franchise will be making its debut on Monday (March 28) against fellow newcomers Gujarat Titans (GT), while Gambhir explained how challenging it was for him as he mentally went back to his playing days. LSG have will bring tons of talent to the IPL arena as they try to win the premier competition on the first time of asking.

Gautam Gambhir, who twice led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to IPL glory in his playing days underlined the importance of being a captain. He asserted what it feels like to be in KL Rahul’s shoes and build the squad. Gambhir was part of the LSG auction team which brought in players like Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder and many others to bolster their lineup.

Gautam Gambhir reflects on the challenge

“I haven’t said this before and this is the first time I am saying this. For each of our buys, I had mentally gone back to my playing days as captain to try and understand what KL would have felt. I was KL in my mind if you understand what I mean. I was trying to think like the captain and that’s how I tried to help Dr Goenka during the auction,” 40-year-old Gambhir said in an exclusive chat with Boria Majumdar.

Gambhir, 40, praised skipper Rahul as considers him a warrior player and someone who is a great asset a wicketkeeper and batter. He also embarked on his leadership skill and batting talent while stating that new signing De Kock is a good match-winner to have in the squad.

Gambhir laments the importance of KL Rahul and his leadership skills

“It is very hard to be an opening batter and captain. Now if you add wicket-keeping responsibilities to it, you are putting unreasonable pressure on one person. We were conscious of this and wanted to ensure KL could focus on his batting and his leadership. It is important we give him some comfort and that’s why we invested in QDK who is a match-winner”, the former IPL winning captain said on KL Rahul’s role.

Gambhir, who will the ambassador for the franchise will see his team take guard on Monday while hoping his team could at least make the playoffs in the first time of asking. LSG will try to start on a winning note as their experienced group of players will come out with a point to prove in the upcoming edition.

LSG IPL 2022 full squad: KL Rahul (c), Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, Krunal Pandya, Jason Holder, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ankit Rajput, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav, Kyle Mayers

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