Indian Premier League: Lucknow Super Giants clicks with gazab andaaz!

The Lucknow Super Giants have finally succeeded in garnering the support of the locals in the second year of home-ground matches happening at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Last year, for the first time, Lucknow hosted seven matches; this year again three matches have already been played while four are scheduled for the coming days.
The spirit of LGS Brigade, the fans’ support and cheers for KL Rahul’s men have been phenomenon so far. And, for this change to happen, several initiatives were taken which eventually yielded positive results.
“This is an evolving process. Last year, we started playing on our home ground and initiated the fan engagement process. We started with a Jashn-e-LSG rally and the mega drone show with players directly engaging with locals. This year we began with LSG 10K Run for sports lovers. Our LSG Brigade, social media posts, Humans of Lucknow series, catchy one-line slogans – all have got down well to get the local support,” says LSG’s chief executive officer Col Vinod Bisht.
“The city based LSG Cup this year expanded to four cities Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut and Agra with which we reached out to cricket lovers. Fans usually cheer for cricket heroes like Virat (Kohli), earlier Sachin (Tendulkar) and so on. Hero worship will still follow but now that they have started supporting LSG and UPites are happily engaging with the local team, the faithfulness, bonding and fondness will grow with time,” he adds.
Last year Lucknow University student Abhishek Dubey joined the LSG Brigade and turned into a ‘super fan’.
“I got my body painted and it gave me enormous traction. Star players Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya shared my photos on their social media accounts. Since then, I’m being called for all matches this year. I travelled to Mohali for an all-expenses paid trip along with 50-odd brigade members and there too I got my body painted. We even got a chance to meet the players,” says Dubey.
Last year, the brigade had 300 members, which reached 2,000 this year.
“We started LSG Brigade last year and this year we took it to other venues where the team has played. UPites are in every city so we are making a pan-India community, people can connect with their team from any city. We invited selected brigade members to an arena near the players’ dugout to support the team. LSG merchandise, flags and the traditional UP gamcha along with tefo sports flags are provided to them,” adds Col Bisht.
LSG aggressively used social media to connect with the locals. They ran a ‘Heroes from UP’ series in which they featured Anoop Khanna ‘dadi ki rasoi’, Chikankari artisan Tarannum Khan, Umesh Chandra Tyagi who reunites lost pilgrims during Kumbh and maagh Mela, Why Cheat India and Gulabo Sitabo actor Lajjawati Mishra and ‘Chaat King’ Hardayal Maurya.
“Such endevours where you recognise the local talent pays well and makes a good connection with the city folks,” says Maurya fondly known as Chotu.
LSG also actively engaged with social media influencer Meethika Dwivedi, popular as The Sound Blaze, and did campaigns with her. Engagement with RJs and stand-comedians was also done.
Slogans like Adab se Harengey and UP ka Gazab Andaaz clicked a lot with people.
“Not just cricket we engaged through art and culture. We did murals and walls painted with players like KL Rahul and others. We also painted the elements of the culture of Lucknow. We also held poster competitions. So, a lot is happening,” adds Col Bisht.
With the team performing well the support is expected to grow.