Shardul Thakur’s Dramatic IPL Return: Filling a Key Void for LSG
Not long ago, Shardul Thakur found himself watching the IPL 2025 auction like any other cricket fan—except this time, his name didn’t trigger a single bid. Unwanted, overlooked, and left in auction limbo, Thakur was one of the biggest surprises in the unsold list. Fast forward a few weeks, and he’s now back in the heat of the action, drafted in as the replacement for Mohsin Khan, whose season was crushed by a nasty ACL injury during the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the tail end of 2024.
Thakur joins the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) straight from the Registered Available Player Pool, snatched up at his base price of ₹2 crore. That’s a bargain for a player with his CV: 95 IPL games, stints with Chennai, Delhi, Punjab, Kolkata, and the now-defunct Rising Pune franchise, and a knack for big moments with both bat and ball. There’s no learning curve for Shardul. He’s been here before, in pressure situations, swinging momentum for whichever side hands him the ball—and now it’s LSG’s turn to call on that experience.
LSG’s Bowling Woes Prompt Strategic Shake-Up
If you’ve followed Lucknow’s pre-season, you know their pace attack has been in chaos. Mohsin’s ACL tear left a gaping hole, but he’s far from the only absence. Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, and Mayank Yadav are all on injury watch or winding their way through rehab. These setbacks left LSG’s think tank scrambling, especially with the season opener against the Delhi Capitals set for March 24 in Visakhapatnam. Their hunt for someone to stabilize the attack led them to Thakur—reliable, adaptable, and itching to prove his doubters wrong.
LSG isn’t just looking for a bowler to plug the gap. They want flexibility. Thakur fits the bill; he brings not just seam bowling but the ability to chip in crucial lower-order runs. In modern T20 contests, these are the kind of players who tilt close matches. The management hopes his calm under pressure and experience around IPL dressing rooms can help younger bowlers settle and find their rhythm quickly.
You can sense the wider narrative here too. Thakur’s signing from the RAPP highlights a loophole that can change careers overnight. For players left unsold, the journey doesn’t end with the auction gavel. Thakur’s recall is a reminder that teams keep revisiting the pool for solutions, especially in high-injury seasons like this one.
With LSG’s opening match just around the corner, all eyes will be on how Thakur slots into the bowling unit. If he can recapture even a fraction of the form that made him a household name at Chennai and Kolkata, he’ll be the unsung hero of their 2025 campaign. The pressure’s on—not just for him, but for a franchise desperate to turn disrupted plans into a fighting chance at the playoffs. For Shardul Thakur, this isn’t just a lifeline; it’s a prime opportunity to remind everyone why he belonged in the IPL all along.
