IPL: Bangalore pick McDonald for the 2012 season

In the fourth transfer of the 2012 season, Australian all-rounder Andrew McDonald is all set to move to Royal Challengers Bangalore, the IPL has confirmed. McDonald, who was with the Delhi Daredevils for the first three seasons, was bought by Bangalore at a transfer fee of US$100,000.

The director of the Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, Sidhartha Mallya, was happy at the inclusion of McDonald and said,”All-rounders are a priceless asset and we are pleased to add Andrew to our squad. He has excelled with bat and ball in different formats. We have no doubt that he will make a big difference to our prospects in the coming IPL season.”

McDonald, who is currently playing in the Big Bash League for the Melbourne Renegades, has performed brilliantly in the five games he has played, scoring 156 runs at an average of 52.00 and a strike-rate of 136.84.

In another transfer news, Punjab medium-pacer bowler Harmeet Singh has moved from Deccan Chargers to Kings XI Punjab, making him the fifth transfer of IPL 2012. Dinesh Karthik was sold to Mumbai Indians by Kings XI at a record fee of $2.35 million, while R Sathish headed in the opposite direction. Kevin Pietersen was also transferred to the Delhi Daredevils from the Deccan Chargers.

The process of player-transfers during the trading window is gaining in momentum, and we are likely to see more action in the days leading up to 20 January 2012, when the first part of the window will close,” Rajeev Shukla, the IPL chairman, said.

After the 4th February auction, IPL will open another short window for trading the players of the Kochi Tuskers Kerela franchisee, which were terminated earlier in 2011 by the BCCI.

With his aggressive stroke play and death overs bowling, McDonald can prove to be an asset for the Bangalore squad, and will also increase their chances of winning the fifth edition of the IPL.