IPL 2018: Jacques Kallis rates Tom Curran as excellent replacement for Mitchell Starc

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had opted to field a rejuvenated and newly grouped squad for the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). They started building a strong unit to win their third IPL title and also appointed a new captain in Dinesh Karthik for the IPL 2018 season. Karthik will be playing for the Knight Riders for the first time in the history of the tournament.

However, The Knights suffered a mighty blow when their premier fast bowler Mitchell Starc was ruled out of the tournament due to the injury, which he sustained before the fourth Test against South Africa.

We are very happy to have Curran on board for IPL 2018: Kallis

KKR announced young English fast bowler Tom Curran as their replacement for the injured Australian fast bowler. The England paceman was also awarded a place into the playing XI for KKR’s second game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and he ended up picking 2 wickets in his debut IPL match. Former Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who is the head coach of KKR, stated that Tom is an excellent replacement for Starc.

Curran was very impressive in the last domestic season in England after which he was also awarded a golden chance of representing his country in all the three formats of the game. He scalped his maiden ODI five-wicket haul in the final match of the away series against Australia. Kallis heaped praises for the young England fast bowler, who has the ability to hit the right areas at any point in a T20 game. The KKR head coach mentioned that Curran also has the talent to make some useful contributions to the teams with the bat lower down the order.

“It was a blow to lose Mitchell Starc at short notice but we are not alone – Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada were also ‘casualties’ of a hard-fought Test series between South Africa and Australia. But Tom Curran is an excellent replacement and I’m excited to have him on board. Obviously he has particular skills for bowling at the end of the innings, but he can bowl anywhere, and I would be surprised if his batting doesn’t make a few important contributions along the way,” mentioned Kallis in his column for TOI.

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