KXIP Punjab find devastating replacement for injured Shaun Marsh
May 3, 2016 at 9:42 PM
Nothing much has gone right for the Punjab-based IPL franchise the Kings XI Punjab in the current season of the competition.
With just 2 victories from 7 games in the season, they have not had the greatest start to their campaign. They have had to shift out of their home-ground due to political issues and to top it off, they have now seen star batsman Shaun Marsh injured recently.
However, with every game becoming all the more important the franchise took a quick decision in finding a replacement for the Australian.
South Africa’s Mr. Consistent, Hashim Amla has been officially picked up by the Kings XI franchise as a replacement for Shaun Marsh who is out of the rest of the season through back injury.
The 33-year old is yet to make his debut in the slam-bang tournament and was an unsold player in the IPL auction before the start of the current season.
His base price was 1 crore INR and teams may have felt it was a bit too much but the Punjab franchise will now have to meet his asking price to get him to the tournament.
And it is understood that all that is taken care of and that all the clearances needed for Amla to don the Kings XI shirt are ready and that the player will join the teams in the upcoming days.
Amla was in good form in the recently concluded World T20 scoring 120 runs in 4 games at a healthy strike-rate of 134.83.
He stepped down as South Africa’s test captain at the turn of the year and has an impressive record in the shortest format of the game as well.
He has played 88 T20s scoring 2446 runs at an average of 31.35 and a strike rate of 125.95 and will be a much-needed addition for the bottom placed team in the competition this season.
Shaun Marsh is understood to have picked up a niggle in the game against the Kolkata Knight Riders a couple of weeks ago and though he played the game against the Gujarat franchise on Sunday he looked uncomfortable before heading back to Australia for some treatment.
Do you think Hashim Amla can help KIXP qualify for the knock-out stage late in the competition?