Two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have roped in former Delhi Capitals (DC) batter Phil Salt as a replacement for Jason Roy who pulled out of the upcoming season due to ‘personal reasons’.
Salt remained unsold in the IPL mini-auction despite scoring two centuries in the T20I series against West Indies. He has been roped in for his base price of Rs 1.5 crore. The wicketkeeper-batter holds the joint-fastest century record for England in the T20I format.
Salt's IPL career
Salt made a lacklustre debut for DC managing to score just five runs from three balls against KKR. After a few low scores, he picked up pace and managed to score 218 runs from nine games at an average of 27.25. He scored two half-centuries and his strike rate was an outstanding 163.91.
Roy's run in IPL 2024
Roy had a decent run in IPL 2023. He scored 285 runs from eight games at an average of 35.63 including two half-centuries. His strike rate was an impressive 151.60.
KKR finished 7th in IPL 2023
Under the leadership of Nitish Rana in the absence of Shreyas Iyer, KKR failed to qualify for the IPL 2023 playoffs. They finished seventh on the points table with eight losses from 14 games.
KKR's updated full squad for IPL 2024
Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer (c), Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain
KKR's schedule for IPL 2024
KKR will begin its IPL 2024 campaign under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on March 2023 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In the initial schedule for IPL 2024, KKR will play its first away match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 29. KKR will then travel to Vizag where they will play against Salt's former franchise DC on April 3.
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