Former India opener Aakash Chopra shared his thoughts on Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) England pacer Gus Atkinson pulling out of the IPL 2024 and said that franchises should be cautious about signing players from England.
He added that many of the England players tend to skip the IPL altogether or do not play the entire season after getting picked in the IPL auction. He also said that the same thing has happened in previous years also and the teams should be wary during IPL auctions.
Atkinson, the 26-year-old England fast bowler, was due to play in the IPL for the first time, but he has now withdrawn from the tournament as the ECB wants to manage his workload.
"If you sign England players for the IPL, do it at your own peril because a lot of them leave. Either they don't come at all or leave halfway through the tournament, or something else happens. This has happened many times and continues to happen. So be careful while signing them,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
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Atkinson played three matches in the ICC World Cup 2023 in India and then went to the Caribbean for a white-ball tour in December. He is currently in India as part of the England squad for the ongoing five-Test series. He is yet to feature in the series which England trails 1-2.
"Gus Atkinson is not coming. He is a part of the Test team at the moment for sure, hasn't played a Test match thus far, but might play the next match as Jimmy Anderson might not play there," Chopra stated.
Meanwhile, KKR replaced Atkinson with Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera and Chopra reckoned that KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir's fondness for the pacer played a huge role in his signing. Chameera had gone unsold in the IPL 2024 auction.
"KKR have signed Dushmantha Chameera. I am not surprised because Gautam Gambhir likes Dushmantha Chameera a lot. He was there in his Lucknow franchise (Lucknow Super Giants) when he was with Lucknow and now that he is with Kolkata, he has taken him there as well,” Chopra added.
Chameera picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 8.73 in 12 games for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in IPL 2022. The right-arm pacer picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.19 in seven matches for the Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 league this year.
"He (Chameera) has been doing well. He is a good bowler. I was recently seeing his matches in the ILT20. He picks up two wickets in a match. When he plays in the IPL, the performance might not be that fantastic, but he is a very decent bowler," Chopra said.
