CPL 2018: Australian leg-spinner roped in by Trinbago Knight Riders

The sixth edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is scheduled to start from August 8. Trinbago Knight Riders will start their campaign as the defending champions. They beat the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, a team which had stalwarts like Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, by 3 wickets to lift the championship. The team would definitely want to repeat their heroics this time around.

“We were hugely disappointed”- Venky Mysore

However, they have been jolted with a massive blow as Pakistani spinner Shadab Khan won’t be available for the event. He has been replaced by Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed who is currently playing for the Vancouver Knights in the Global Canada T20 event. Meanwhile, the Knight Riders fraternity is gutted over missing out on the services of the Pakistani tweaker, but also hailed Fawad.

“We were hugely disappointed to lose out on Shadab for this year’s tournament but Fawad is a fantastic replacement. As a bowler who can turn the ball both ways we are sure he will be a fantastic addition to the TKR squad for the 2018 season,” Venky Mysore, the TKR director, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

In the last season, Shadab churned out 12 wickets in eight matches at a stupendous economy of 5.75, which was second best to that of Sunil Narine’s 5.39. Fawad has an experience of 39 T20s in which he has notched 35 wickets. He also has represented Australia in three ODIs and two T20Is. His last match in national colors was in 2013.

The Knights will start their campaign on August 8 versus the St Lucia Stars, a team with stars like David Warner in their ranks. Last season the finished on top of the points table with eight wins from 10 games The likes of Colin Munro, Brendon McCullum, Shadab and Narine helped them romp past the strongest of opponents in the event.

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