Who is replacing Travis Head for SRH in their game against LSG?

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are taking on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Stadium on Monday night. It was SRH who won the toss and chose to bowl first. Travis Head was confirmed to miss the game as he is recovering from COVID. The left-handed batter was replaced by Atharva Taide for the game. 25-year-old Taide has played nine IPL games so far in his career and is making his debut for SRH. 

Jaydev Unadkat is also missing for SRH due to personal reasons as mentioned by Pat Cummins at the toss. Young spinner Harsh Dubey who replaced Smaran Ravichandran earlier in the season is also set to make his IPL debut as he replaces Unadkat. Lucknow Super Giants has handed the debut cap to New Zealand seamer William O Rourke who has come in as a replacement player. 

It is a huge game for Lucknow Super Giants who have 10 points from 11 games. LSG has to win all their games to keep their hopes of making it to the playoffs. Loss on Monday will all but end their IPL 2025 season as the race for playoffs will be down to Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. 

Can Rishabh Pant and his side keep their hopes alive?

It has been a strange season for LSG having done well in the earlier part of the season where they won few games on the bounce. Three successive loss have seen LSG slide down the table. Rishabh Pant will hope that his opening batters can come good and Nicholas Pooran can find his form once again. 

Speaking at the toss, Pant had said that he wouldn’t mind batting first on the wicket as well. The 27-year-old stated his intent to take it one game at a time, and not take pressure. David Miller was named in the impact players bench while Shahbaz Ahmed also makes it to the bench for the first time this season. 

Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami wasn’t given a spot in the playing XI by SRH. The 34-year-old hasn’t done well this season of the IPL so far which has seen him lose his spot in the playing XI. The onus of bowling well falls on Cummins, as well as Harshal Patel who is SRH’ leading wicket-taker this season. Eshan Malinga keeps his place in the side along with young Zeeshan Ansari.