Big signing for Lucknow Super Giants: South Africa allrounder brought in as replacement for injured Wanindu Hasaranga

The 34-year-old has joined at his reserve price of ₹1 crore, an IPL media release informed.

Updated on: Apr 10, 2026, 17:50:47 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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South Africa allrounder George Linde has joined Indian Premier League side Lucknow Super Giants as a replacement for the injured Sri Lankan Wanindu Hasaranga. Tom Moody, global director of cricket at the franchise, had revealed on Thursday, during LSG’s away tie against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens that they were going to announce the replacement in the “next 24 to 48 hours”.

His upfront attitude on the matter was appreciated by the commentators at the time. All IPL franchises are known to keep such matters close to their chests, but in what was a breath of fresh air, the former Australian all-rounder didn’t hesitate to say that Hasaranga was out, and they had found a replacement for him.

Also Read: IPL coaches' potpourri: Mahela, Sanga, Hayden bring in varied styles, reminiscent of the way they played their cricket

An IPL media release on Friday read: “Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have signed Protea all-rounder George Linde as a replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga, who has been ruled out of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

“Hasaranga was signed by LSG for INR 2 crore at the auction but has been sidelined due to a hamstring injury he sustained in Sri Lanka’s opening game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.

“Linde, a left-handed batting all-rounder who bowls slow left-arm orthodox, has represented South Africa in 3 Tests, 4 ODIs and 37 T20Is. In T20Is, Linde has scored 403 runs and picked up 35 wickets. He brings extensive experience in the shortest format, having played 250 T20 matches.

“This will be his maiden stint in the TATA IPL. He will join LSG at his reserve price of INR 1 crore.”

LSG next against GT after Mukul Choudhary's heroics!

After losing their season opener against Delhi Capitals, LSG have won their last two games, against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Against KKR, they were staring a defeat in the face when they needed 54 runs off 24 balls with just three wickets in hand. However, Mukul Choudhary had other ideas, and he smashed a 27-ball 54 not out with the help of seven sixes, including two in the last over to take his team over the line off the last ball of the match. Team owner Sanjiv Goenka was particularly pleased with the performance of his bunch.

LSG now host Gujarat Titans at the Ekana Stadium on Sunday in what is an afternoon game.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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