Is Shardul Thakur joining Lucknow Super Giants? Speculation at fever pitch after franchise’s deleted post | Ipl News
Though no official announcement is on the anvil, Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur has been camped at the Lucknow Super Giants training nets for the last week. He also surfaced in a social media post by the LSG handle, which was deleted within hours. The deletion raised speculation of him being roped in by LSG to a fever pitch, after Thakur was also seen in Holi videos and appeared in the training jersey.
Fans received the deleted post with much trepidation that was nothing about Thakur, who was released by CSK last season. Their worries revolved around the reasons for summoning this potential backup – given LSG are sweating the fitness of their key speedster Mayank Yadav, known for his 97 miles per hour deliveries.
NDTV quoted PTI citing a BCCI anon source as saying, “Mayank is expected to get fit in some time but he might have to miss the first few games of the Indian Premier League. As of now it could be first two to three games. He has just started bowling at NCA and will slowly be building his load.”
But fans have fanned out their concerns in guessing if Thakur was in fact coming in for Mohsin or Avesh Khan. Some even tossed up names of Marsh and Markram, though that was idle chatter.
A Sunday video featuring Thakur raised the spectre of his joining the franchise. Thakur who played for CSK in 2024 didn’t get any bids inntheblast auction. However he had continued ploughing away in domestic cricket, with Mumbai’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy numbers of 15 wickets in nine games at an average of 24.53. In the Ranji Trophy, he notched 35 wickets in nine matches at 22.62.
Though he is nowhere close to Mayank’s speed, he brings in solidity while the star character awaits go ahead from medical and sports science team at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bengaluru.
