Big blow for Kavya Maran's SRH, in the middle of IPL 2025, THIS star player tests COVID-19 positive, likely to miss LSG clash

Ahead of his side's match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori confirmed that the opener Travis Head was tested positive for COVID-19 and will be joining the team on Monday after which his availability for the match will be decided.

LSG, sitting at the seventh spot with five wins and six losses, have a crucial home clash at Ekana Stadium against SRH, who are at eighth spot in the table with three wins and seven losses, giving them six points.

Speaking during the pre-match presser, Vettori said, "Travis is coming in tomorrow morning. He was delayed. He actually had COVID, so he could not travel. So he will get in tomorrow morning, and we will assess how he is after that."

After a brilliant season last year, this year has been mixed for Australian left-hander, having made 281 runs in 10 innings at an average of 28.10, with a strike rate of 156.11 and two half-centuries. His best score is 67.

Speaking on the league resuming after a temporary break due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan, Vettori said that due to this break, one team will lose momentum, the other will gain it, but there will be "no excuses in terms of a break".

"I mean, it is twofold. It is a fact that it's a long tournament and that guys have been training hard and working exceptionally well. So, a small break should not affect performance at all. I think guys are coming fresh, excited to be back and ready to, I suppose, compete. So I think there will be no excuses in terms of a break. It will be guys coming back ready to go at it," he added.

Squads: LSG vs SRH

Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ayush Badoni, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Akash Maharaj Singh, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Himmat Singh, Matthew Breetzke, Shardul Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Aryan Juyal, RS Hangargekar, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Arshin Kulkarni, William ORourke, Akash Deep

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Sachin Baby, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga, Travis Head, Mohammed Shami, Harsh Dubey, Rahul Chahar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kamindu Mendis, Atharva Taide, Simarjeet Singh, Smaran Ravichandran.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)