There’s a bad news for Kolkata Knight Riders as two of their Pacers have been ruled out from this season’s IPL. Kamlesh Nagarkoti one of the top performers in last year’s under-19 world cup winning campaign has been ruled out because he’s yet to recover from his back injury. It must be noted that he wasn’t available to the franchise in the last season as well because of the same injury. He was bought by the franchise for a whopping amount of 3.2 crores. He is one of the fastest bowlers in India right now as a speed close to 150 Kmph was recorded during the u-19 world cup last year, he’s a gun fielder too, it’s a massive loss for the franchise considering he’s brings a lot to a side as a whole package.
The franchise had signed Prasidh Krishna last year as his replacement but this year he’s been including as a permanent member of the squad.
The other player who is going to miss out this this season is Shivam Mavi who was also a part of the winning u-19 team in 2018. He along with Nagarkoti were very lethal. He performed extremely well for the franchise last season, even contributing with some runs down the order.
Mavi has been ruled out because of a stress fracture in his back, he’s plays for Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket, he is likely to be out for six months.
The franchise has roped in Sandeep Warrior has his replacement. Warrior went unsold in the auctions which were held in December. His base price was 20 Lacs. He has performed well in the just concluded Ranji season, he picked 44 wickets in 8 matches, contributing hugely in the process of Kerala reaching the semis. He also did well in the Syed Mustaqq Ali trophy, domestic T20 competition in India. He picked eight wickets in 6 matches including a hat-trick against Andra.
This will be his second stint in the IPL, before this he was with the RCB from 2013-15 but he couldn’t get a game. It remains to be seen if he would be available to deliver for the franchise as he has no experience of playing in the IPL before.
KKR dealt with the loss of Nagarkoti last season but it would be interesting to see how they deal with this double blow?
