IPL 2020: Side strain rules KKR’s Ali Khan out of the tournament

Ali Khan became the first player from the United States of America (USA) to feature in the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). The right-arm seamer was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), now captained by Eoin Morgan. However, the speedster won’t be able to play a single game after being ruled out of the tournament due to a side strain.

Khan carried his injury from the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) where he plied his trade for four-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders, captained by Kieron Pollard. In the IPL, Khan was roped in after England’s Harry Gurney pulled out in a bid to undergo a shoulder surgery. Back on October 7, an IPL media statement mentioned that he would miss the rest of the season.

However, later it was learned that he was making a quick recovery and was training with the team. Venky Mysore, the KKR CEO, also sounded confident about Khan returning back to shape.

“While we are disappointed that he injured himself, KKR always does everything to take care of its players and therefore have asked him to stay on and are helping him with his recovery and rehab. Hopefully, he will recover fast,” Mysore had told to ESPNcricinfo.

KKR announce replacement
As far as Khan’s replacement is concerned, New Zealand’s Tim Seifert has been called upon. As per reports in Stuff, on Friday, October 16, Seifert’s domestic team Norther Districts mentioned that the cricketer “was another absentee [for the Plunket Shield] in coming weeks, summoned to the IPL as a replacement player”.

Like Khan, Seifert was also a part of the TKR franchise in the CPL, though he couldn’t make much of an impact. On the slow and low tracks in the Caribbean, the wicketkeeper-batsman could only manage 133 runs in nine innings at a meagre strike-rate of 109.91. In 95 T20s, Tim has 1,775 runs at an average of 25 with one century and eight fifties.

As for KKR, the team are currently placed fourth in the points table with four wins from their eight matches. After losing to the Mumbai Indians (MI) by eight wickets, the Knights will be looking to make amends against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday, October 18, in Abu Dhabi.