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IPL 2025: 3 Best Budget Buys By Rishabh Pant-Starred Lucknow Super Giants In Mega Auction

LSG bought 19 players in IPL 2025 auction. [Source: @CricCrazyJohns & @JosephW30974630/X]LSG bought 19 players in IPL 2025 auction. [Source: @CricCrazyJohns & @JosephW30974630/X]

Including five retentions and 19 auction picks, Lucknow Super Giants have splurged as many as INR 119.90 crore (second-highest among all franchises) to buy 24 cricketers (second-highest number of players) for the 18th season of the Indian Premier League. Additionally, the franchise is most likely to announce their fourth captain in the near future.

One of the two youngest franchises, LSG executed a record-breaking purchase on the first day of the mega auction in Jeddah on Sunday. That being said, owner Sanjeev Goenka and his team also managed to pull off several budget buys as well. They are:

Shahbaz Ahmed (INR 2.4 crore)

In need of Indian spinners on Day 2, in Bengal all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, Lucknow secured a like-for-like replacement for former vice-captain Krunal Pandya, who played the most matches for them alongside Ravi Bishnoi across the first three seasons.

Registered at a base price of INR 1 crore, Ahmed will earn the exact same amount of money which he’s been earning since IPL 2022. Having managed to play most of IPL 2024 ahead of Washington Sundar at Sunrisers Hyderabad, the southpaw scored a maiden T20 century a day before the auction.

Super Giants, who didn’t face much competition to acquire the 29-year-old player who hasn’t played international cricket in over a year now, would’ve had to shelve much more to retain Pandya, who eventually got sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 5.75 crore.

Shamar Joseph (INR 75 lakh)

Numbers don’t provide a reason why West Indies fast bowler Shamar Joseph is a budget buy for LSG. The right-arm bowler’s potential does. As per experts, 20 T20s (including nine T20Is) are yet to see the best of Joseph.

Roped in as a replacement for England fast bowler Mark Wood last season, the franchise not only managed to buy back a player but also reduced his salary by INR 2.25 crore. In what remains his lone IPL appearance, Joseph had leaked 47 runs without picking a wicket against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens earlier this year.

Matthew Breetzke (INR 75 lakh)

Much like Joseph, Super Giants bagged South Africa batter Matthew Breetzke at his base price. While Joseph played for them last season, Breetzke represents Durban’s Super Giants in SA20.

Second-highest run-scorer for the franchise across the first two seasons of the tournament, the 26-year-old player was the third-highest run-scorer in SA20 2023. All in all, his 1,520 runs at an average and strike rate of 33.77 and 136.44 respectively make him the fourth-highest T20 run-scorer this year.

For a team which consists of just six overseas players, a top-order batter capable of keeping wickets could come in handy especially in case of injuries to first-choice players.