Reports: KKR pick England pacer as Mitchell Starc's replacement

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are currently struggling ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following injuries to their key players. Mitchell Starc was the latest casualty as he suffered the tibial bone stress to his right leg in the ongoing Test series against South Africa and was ruled out of the tournament. The likes of Andre Russell and Chris Lynn are also injury prone. However, the franchise has picked a key England pacer as Starc’s replacement for the upcoming season.

An injury to Starc has copped a serious blow to their ambitions as Mitchell Johnson is the only overseas experienced bowler in their squad. They were the only franchise to have spent their whole purse in the auction and ended up with only 19 players. With an injury cloud over Russell and Lynn, KKR will have to be careful during the season and pray that their gun players stay fit for the whole season.

Who is the replacement?

According to the reports, KKR has replaced Starc with Tom Curran for the upcoming season of the IPL. The cricketer recently followed the official Instagram handle of IPL T20 and KKR which hints at a possibility of him joining the squad soon. Interestingly, Curran was also the part of Cape Town Knight Riders squad for the now dumped T20 Global League in South Africa whose owners are the same. KKR has been following the trend of picking the players from their squads in the other T20 leagues.

Even during the auction, they picked Javon Searles who plays for Trinbago Knight Riders and were quite happy to bag his services. Curran seems to be a good pick for the franchise as he has done well with the England team so far in the shortest format and has emerged as the good death overs bowler. The official announcement is yet to be done from the franchise but the same might soon be done.

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