Is Avesh Khan playing today’s SRH vs LSG IPL 2025 match?

Avesh Khan has been named in the playing XI as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) take on the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, March 27. The speedster has replaced Shahbaz Ahmed, who had played the opening game against Delhi Capitals (DC).

At the toss, the Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant said (via Cricbuzz):

“The only change is Avesh comes back, Shahbaz misses out.”

As per ESPNcricinfo, Avesh was suffering from a right knee issue, which forced him to miss LSG’s season opener. The BCCI medical staff gave him the green light earlier this week. He joined the Lucknow-based franchise on Wednesday, March 26.

The Madhya Pradesh pacer will be playing his first game after his appearance in the Ranji Trophy in January this year. Avesh bagged 19 wickets in 16 matches last year in the IPL. Overall, he has bagged 74 wickets in 63 games. The Super Giants splurged INR 9.75 crore to acquire him at the mega auction last year.

LSG opt to field against SRH in the IPL 2025 match

LSG captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and chose to bowl against SRH in the seventh match of IPL 2025. On this decision, Pant said:

"We will bowl first. I think we got to get them out early and look to chase the target. It depends on the team combination, that's why we want to bowl first. We have the batting to chase it down.”

The wicketkeeper-batter was unfazed by the SunRisers' batting exploits since the last season. The remarks came as SRH put up 286/6 against the Rajasthan Royals in their last game. On this, he said:

“We gonna chase whatever they score, doesn't matter.”

When SRH last faced LSG, they won the game by 10 wickets with 10.2 overs to spare while chasing 167. The Lucknow-based franchise are searching for their first win in 2025 after losing their opening game by one wicket in a last-over nail-biter against DC. Meanwhile, SRH beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 44 runs to begin their IPL 2025 campaign.

Follow the SRH vs LSG IPL 2025 live score and updates here.