IPL 2018: KKR announce Tom Curran as replacement for Mitchell Starc

Kolkata Knight Riders have announced England fast bowler Tom Curran as replacement for injured Australian pacer Mitchell Starc for IPL 2018. Starc was bought for INR 9.4 crore by KKR but suffered an injury that ruled him out of the final Test between Australia and South Africa and the entire IPL.

The 23-year-old England fast bowler made his international debut in June 2017 in a T20I against South Africa. Since then, the South Africa-born pacer has represented England across all formats. His ODI debut came against West Indies while his Test debut came during the Ashes.

Although he only has seven wickets from his six T20Is, he has played over 50 T20s and is the designated death bowler for both his county, Surrey and his country, England. He showcased his death bowling ability in the T20I against New Zealand at Hamilton as England won by two runs.

In 51 matches, he has 53 wickets at a strike rate of under 20. This will be the first time that Curran is representing a team outside of England or his county. In the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast, he picked up 12 wickets at an average of 23.41. The South Africa-born batsman is also a more than handy batsman in the lower middle-order, an average of 19.05 and a strike rate of 128.36 is evidence of just that.

He will be a welcome replacement for Starc, who missed out on his third successive IPL. In fact, Starc's final match in the tournament came in 2015 when he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a playoff match against Chennai Super Kings. Starc became the fifth Australian after Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff (both injuries), David Warner and Steve Smith to miss IPL 2018.

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