Last time an active international cricketer visited the RPSG House on the Judges’ Court Road in Alipore, Kolkata, the deal could not be pulled off. This time it is a slam dunk. While the KL Rahul deal did not come off, Nicholas Pooran clinched it.
Cricbuzz can confirm that Pooran (29) was in the Kolkata office of the RPSG group on Tuesday to meet owner Sanjiv Goenka. He signed on the dotted lines to represent Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the coming seasons. The West Indian may now have become the first formal signing of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 2025.
He will be the franchise’s primary retention, commanding a price of Rs 18 crore, the price slab prescribed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), for the No. 1 retention. Although the franchise can pay more or less, it has been learnt he will have a salary of Rs 18 crore.
His last auction price was Rs 16 crore, bought by the franchise in the 2023 auction in Dubai, after SunRisers Hyderabad had released him. The Rs 2 crore uplift is not a bad deal for a foreign player ahead of a mega auction. Normally, Indian players get big bucks in the big IPL auction.
“Pooran is committed to LSG, possesses a winning mindset, thinks deep and above all he is adaptable to the batting order and any match situation,” said an LSG official explaining the signing.
Pooran was one of the high performing players for the franchise in the last IPL. Reaching 500 runs in a season is widely considered a commendable feat in the IPL and Pooran was not too far away from the benchmark. He scored 499 runs, including three half centuries with 35 fours and 36 sixes. Considering that he is also a decent wicketkeeper, the signing looks a win-win for both parties.
It has already been reported that the franchise has decided not to retain Rahul and Pooran will be one of the five retentions by the franchise and as previously reported by Cricbuzz, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Ayush Badoni and Mohsin Khan, last two named uncapped, are the other players who will stay with Lucknow.
The SuperGiants will go into the auction with a purse of Rs 69 crore, having spent Rs 51 crore from a permitted salary cap of Rs 120 crore on the five retentions – Rs 18 crore for the first, Rs 14 crore for the second, Rs 11 crore for the third with Rs 4 crore each for the two uncapped players. They will have to buy at least 15 more from the remaining purse and that should be enough to build a strong team.
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