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Good news for Rishabh Pant's LSG after defeat vs DC! Star pacer clears fitness test ahead of clash against SRH

IPL 2025: Avesh Khan who has been out of action for months has cleared the fitness test at Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru ahead of Lucknow Super Giants' clash against Delhi Capitals.

Sports Tak

• Tue • 25 Mar 2025

Lucknow Super Giants' captain Rishabh Pant reacts as he walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Delhi Capitals at the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy cricket stadium in Visakhapatnam on March 24, 2025.

Highlights:

Rishabh Pant's LSG lost to Delhi Capitals by one wicket.

LSG will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 27.

Avesh Khan's availability for SRH match is yet to be confirmed.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) fielded an inexperienced bowling lineup, especially in pace department as their star bowlers have been injured. Captain Rishabh Pant missed the experience of Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav and Akash Deep against his former franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener. After the one-wicket loss against DC, Pant's LSG have receieved boost as Avesh has cleared the fitness test ahead of clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

While Avesh cleared the fitness Test at the Centre of Excellence (formerly National Cricket Academy), Bengaluru , it is not confirmed whether he will join the LSG camp right away. LSG's match against SRH is on March 27 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.

Avesh's stats vs SRH

Avesh has played seven games against SRH and taken 13 wickets at an average of 17.52, including a four-wicket haul. His economy rate of 9.12 runs per over is on the higher side.

Update on Mayank and Akash Deep

Before the match against DC, LSG head coach Justin Langer had provided update on Mayank and Deep as well. Langer revealed that Mayank hit his toe on the bed and suffered an infection which has added another week or two to his road to recovery. He is hopeful of getting him back to the side later in the season.

"Mayank, who everyone was very excited about last year, he was going quite well (coming back from a back injury), and he kicked his toe on the bed," Langer told the reporters.

"He got an infection in his toe. It's put his rehab back about a week or two weeks. But he's up and running. We regularly see videos of him bowling. I saw a video of his yesterday. So, hopefully by the back end of the tournament, Mayank will be up and ready to go for us."

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On the other hand, Deep is expected to join the squad soon.

"Akash Deep is up and running, and bowling at about 90% now. I believe he's done his yo-yo test. So, he's really ticking off all the boxes," the former Australian opener said.

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Thakur's impactful LSG debut

On March 24, Mohsin Khan's replacement, Shardul Thakur, made an impactful LSG debut. With the new ball, he got the wickets of opener Jake Fraser-McGurk and wicketkeeper-batter Abhishek Porel. He wasn't brought back into the attack by Pant in middle overs and slog overs.