Australia’s premier fast bowler Mitchell Starc has been ruled out of the ongoing fourth and the final Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, as he made way for the debutant Chadd Sayers to get his maiden baggy green. He has suffered a ‘tibial bone stress’ in his right leg. Now, starc will also not be able to take part in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Starc has been replaced by Sayers, who will be making his Test debut for Australia. Former batsman Adam Voges presented Sayers with his baggy green amid expectations. Everyone knew that the Australian team was about be revamped, but few would have known Starc would sit out and give South Australian pacer Sayers will get the chance to realize his dream of wearing his maiden Australian Test cap.
Also read: IPL 2018: Kolkata Knight Riders – Probable XI
Micthell failed to overcome a sore calf that he has sustained in recent weeks. Sayers has been close to selection in the past, especially during the day-night Tests at his home Adelaide Oval, but his name was never in the final XI.
The left-armer was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping price of $1.8 million at the IPL players auction in January, but will not take place in the cash-rich league this season. He has not been able to play IPL since 2016, because of the similar reasons. Now with his exit from IPL 2018, KKR’s teams are now looking even weaker.
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KKR will miss the services of Starc due to an injury but they still have Mitchell Johnson. But, the bigger matter of concern is that Johnson is also injury-prone with a fragile back.
KKR IPL 2018 squad:
Dinesh Karthik (C), Robin Uthappa (RTM), Sunil Narine (Retained), Andre Russell (Retained), Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav (RTM), Piyush Chawla (RTM), Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi
