Nicholas Pooran emerged as one of the expensive buys in the IPL 2023 mini-auction as he joined Lucknow Super Giants for a whopping INR 16 crore. With this deal, Pooran became the most expensive West Indies player ever. Considering his form over the last few years in the Indian Premier League, it wasn’t expected that Poran will even breach the 5 crore-mark, but despite having an off-time at the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia earlier this year, Pooran’s services were secured at a huge amount of INR 16 crores. Not just LSG but other franchises were also keen to get his services. As a result, he emerged as the 4th expensive pick of the IPL 2023 mini-auction.
Nicholas Pooran, who had set his base price of ₹2 crore, got Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants into an intense bidding war. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) started the bidding for Pooran. Later, Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) also joined the race. LSG defeated them all by shelling out a huge sum for the West Indies’ player.
Gautam Gambhir Explained Why LSG Spent A Huge Amount On Pooran
Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer and the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants — Gautam Gambhir explained the reason for spending huge money on Poran. Speaking to Jio Cinema, Gautam Gambhir also showed faith in Poora’s abilities and backed him to do well in the upcoming season. He said:
“We did not even think about what he did in the last IPL season. It was just his ability. We were clear on the fact that we had to have someone like him, someone of his caliber. He is 26-27 and probably he is going to start peaking from here on. It’s not about how many runs you score, it’s about the impact, if he can win 3-4 games, he has that ability. How many players have the ability to play in the top 4 and as well at 6-7. Nicholas has that ability,”
Previously, Pooran has played for SunRisers Hyderabad however he was released following his poor outing in the IPL 2022. He also couldn’t do much in the T20 World Cup as the Windies crashed out from the opening round under his captaincy. But Pooran has shown signs of his comeback to form as he recently amassed 345 runs from 10 matches in the Abu Dhabi T10 2022, where he also finished as the leading run-scorer.
