In a major move, Gujarat Titans (GT) have traded star New Zealand pacer, Lockie Ferguson, to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 mini-auction, touted to take place at the end of 2022. He will also be joined by Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is set to replace his former captain Mohammad Nabi in the KKR squad.
Ferguson, who helped the Kiwis to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in Australia, was one of Gujarat's star bowlers in the last edition. He played 13 matches for the Titans and picked up 12 wickets, including a four-wicket haul. This will be his second stint with KKR, having played for them from 2019 to 2021. He moved to GT during the 2022 IPL's mega auction.
He made his debut in the IPL with the erstwhile Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS_. In his five seasons in the IPL, the 31-year-old pacer has played 35 matches, picking up 36 wickets during this period.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's young wicketkeeper-batter Gurbaz is a T20 specialist, having played 35 matches and scoring 896 runs for his team at an average of 25.6 runs per game. He was included in the GT squad in the 2022 edition as a replacement for England batter Jason Roy but did not play a single game.
Gurbaz was included in Afghanistan's T20 World Cup squad and finished the Super 12 as the second-highest run-getter for his team, with 68 runs under his belt. His highest score was 32, with Afghanistan failing to win a single match in the T20 World Cup.
Earlier, Australian star pacer Jason Behrendorff became the first trade of IPL 2023 as he re-joined Mumbai Indians (MI) after three years. He was part of the MI squad back in IPL 2018 and 2019, before being traded to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for IPL 2022.
