A tibial bone stress in his right leg has ruled Mitchell Starc out of IPL 2018. Starc was roped in by KKR for 9.4 crores and now the thinktank is busy finding an ideal replacement for the Aussie pacer.
Renowned Indian commentator, Harsha Bhogle has recently tweeted his choice picking South African speedster Morne Morkel as the ideal man to replace Starc. Morkel who went unsold this IPL auction was a part of KKR since 2014 till 2017 before they decided to release him going into the auctions.
I'd go Morne Morkel for Mitch Starc. #KKR @KKRiders
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 30, 2018
Morkel is also in great form with the ball as he recently took 9 wickets in the third Test which will be remembered for the controversy which followed. It will be interesting to see if KKR agree with Harsha in this regard and they will have to announce the replacement soon as the T20 extravaganza is all set to commence on April 7.
Having been a part of the KKR set up since the last four years, it will be easy for Morkel to come back into the side and gell up with the team well. Besides that he will also add experience to the batting line up which seems to be lacking with the departure of Starc. With Mitchell Johnson being a left arm pacer, Morkel will be his perfect right arm partner as both bowlers have necessary experience and knowledge of bowling in Indian conditions.
KKR IPL 2018 squad
Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi