George Linde Replaces Wanindu Hasaranga LSG IPL 2026: Sri Lanka’s star spinner Wanindu Hasaranga is out of IPL 2026. Lucknow Super Giants have announced South African off-spin all-rounder George Linde as his replacement. The LSG franchise said in an official statement that Hasaranga has been ruled out of the entire season due to injury. He suffered a hamstring injury during the T20 World Cup 2026, from which he has not been able to recover yet.

George Linde, who came to the Lucknow team as a replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga, has experience of 37 matches in international T20 cricket, in which he has taken 35 wickets. He also bats well and has scored 403 runs in his T20 career for South Africa.

George Linde has never played in IPL. He had kept his base price at Rs 1 crore in the auction, but it remained unsold. Now luck has given him the IPL contract of Lucknow Super Giants team. He has played for Mumbai Indians franchise in SA20 and Major League Cricket.

Lucknow Super Giants management had considered players to choose the replacement of Wanindu Hasaranga. The names of Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman and England’s Liam Dawson were also considered, but in the end South African all-rounder George Linde was signed.

Talking about total T20 career, George Linde has experience of 250 matches. In this huge career, apart from taking 218 wickets, he has also scored 2,746 runs in batting. His batting strike rate is more than 136 and has also played four half-century innings.

In IPL 2026, Lucknow Super Giants team has so far registered 2 wins in 3 matches. He is at fifth position in the points table with 4 points. Both the victories of Lucknow so far have come very close.

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