It has hardly come as a surprise that Mumbai all-rounder Shardul Thakur has replaced unfit Mohsin Khan in the Lucknow Super Giants’ squad on the eve of their opening match against Delhi Capitals in Vizag on Monday.

Ever since LSG’s preparatory camp had started in Lucknow two weeks ago, it was well known that Thakur would be brought in as a replacement for one of the four unfit pace bowlers LSG were carrying in their ranks. The LSG management would have signed up the burly all-rounder much earlier, but they had to follow the procedure, where first, the NCA in Bangalore had to pronounce a pace bowler unfit and then, seek the IPL committee’s approval to sign up a replacement.  All the suspense surrounding Thakur’s inclusion was brought to an end when the BCCI issued a media advisory on Sunday morning stating that “Thakur, an experienced all-rounder, has been signed from the Registered Available Player Pool [RAPP] at his reserve [base] price of Rs 2 crore.”