A week ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 opener, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) face major woes as their Indian pace trio Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan and Mohsin Khan are yet to get clearance from the Centre of Excellence (formely known as NCA) in Bengaluru.
Mayank suffered a back stress and has been out of action since his maiden T20I series against Bangladesh in October 2024. As per a report by Cricbuzz, Avesh is undergoing rehab for knee cartilages. He was referred to the NCA and took injections to solve the problem after Madhya Pradesh's Ranji Trophy match against Kerala earlier this year.
There is not much information about left-arm pacer Mohsin's injury. His last appearance in domestic cricket was on December 31. In the Vijay Hazare match, the UP bowler 5.5 overs against Chandigarh. It is not clear whether he will be able to regain full fitness in the next few weeks.
Mayank and Mohsin were retained by LSG. The express pacer Mayank was retained for Rs 11 crore whereas uncapped Mohsin got Rs 4 crore. In the auction, LSG acquired Avesh's services for Rs 9.75 crore.
LSG are scheduled to go up against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their campaign opener on March 24 at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.
If the trio is not available, LSG's new captain Rishabh Pant will have a depleted pace attack. The other Indian options include Akash Deep, Akash Singh and Prince Yadav. LSG may have to rely on their overseas recruit Shamar Joseph and spin attack to bolster the bowling lineup. The injury to Mitchell Marsh has created problems for LSG as he is available to play as a batter in the league.
LSG IPL 2025 squad -
Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Aryan Juyal, Akash Deep, Himmat Singh, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke.