IPL: Southee replaces Cummins in KKR

Kolkata: New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has been roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders for the remainder of the IPL scheduled to be held in the UAE from September 19.

The veteran New Zealand pacer will be a replacement for Australia’s Pat Cummins,  who pulled out of the league due to “personal reasons”.

“Cummins made himself unavailable for the season for personal reasons. Southee comes in with a vast experience of 305 International games for the Kiwis with 603 wickets,” the two-time former champions KKR announced on Thursday.

Third-highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket, with 99 wickets in 83 matches, Southee has been part



of Rajasthan Royals, CSK, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past.

He will now reunite with his former captain Brendon McCullum, the head coach of KKR.

“We are delighted to have Southee in our ranks. He is a proven match-winner and a welcome addition to the already strong pace attack of KKR. With Cummins being unavailable we wanted to add experience and leadership to our bowling group and Southee is the ideal man for the job,” McCullum told KKR website.

Elsewhere,  Punjab Kings have picked England leg-spinner Adil Rashid to replace Jhye Richardson.