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New Zealand's veteran pacer Tim Southee has arrived in India to join the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) camp ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023).
The Kolkata-based franchise shared a video on its social media handles on Monday, March 27, to announce the fast bowler's arrival. Southee, who is the leading wicket-taker for New Zealand in T20Is, is expected to play a major role for the two-time champions in the tournament.
The Knight Riders captioned the post:
"🎙️ 𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩... 🤩"
Notably, Southee impressed many with his bowling exploits in the previous season of the cash-rich league. The right-arm seamer featured in nine matches and picked up 14 wickets at an economy rate of 7.85.
The seasoned bowler could prove to be Kolkata's trump card with the new ball. Furthermore, considering his immense experience of playing the format, could also emerge as the team's go-to option in the death overs.
Nitish Rana appointed as KKR captain for IPL 2023
KKR will kick off their IPL 2023 campaign in the absence of their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer, who continues to recover from a back injury. The right-handed batter is expected to miss at least the first half of the competition.
Indian batter Nitish Rana was named as KKR's interim captain by the team management on Monday. Shreyas and Co. failed to reach the playoffs last season, finishing seventh after having won just six of their 14 league matches.
The two-time champions will lock horns with the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their opening fixture of IPL 2023. The afternoon match is set to be played at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on April 1.
KKR squad for IPL 2023
Players bought - Shakib Al Hasan (₹1.50 crore), N. Jagadeesan (₹90 lakh), Vaibhav Arora (₹60 lakh), Suyash Sharma (₹20 lakh), David Wiese (₹1 crore), Kulwant Khejroliya (₹20 lakh), Litton Das (₹50 lakh), and Mandeep Singh (₹50 lakh).
Players retained: Shreyas Iyer (injured), Nitish Rana (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Tim Southee, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, and Rinku Singh.
