IPL 2020: Mumbai Indians trade Siddhesh Lad to Kolkata Knight Riders

The four-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have decided to trade Siddhesh Lad to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the auction for the upcoming season. The deadline to submit the final retained and released players list was extended to Friday evening by the IPL authorities. And the Mumbai franchise has used it to trade Lad who was with the team for as many as five years.

Unfortunately, the talented batsman didn’t get many opportunities. Rather Siddhesh Lad played only a solitary game for his team when Rohit Sharma got injured in the previous season. He smashed the first delivery he faced for a six against the Kings XI Punjab and was dismissed after scoring 15 runs from 13 balls in his debut game.

The official IPL website confirmed the news of Siddhesh Lad being traded to the KKR for the upcoming season which might be the last one before the auction. The teams have to submit their final list by 5 PM on Friday.

Siddhesh Lad might get more chances with KKR

Siddhesh Lad will now be hoping to get more chances while playing with the KKR next season. He couldn’t break into the star-studded MI line-up and it remains to be seen how the Dinesh Karthik-led side will make use of his talent. Lad is currently playing for Mumbai in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and has looked in decent touch so far.

Interestingly, Siddhesh Lad has picked a five-wicket haul with the ball in the tournament and the KKR can look to make use of his bowling skills as well. He bats in the middle-order for Mumbai and can also open the innings if needed. It will be interesting to see the way his skills are utilised in the KKR set-up.

As far as KKR is concerned, they had a tough 2019 IPL season and they will also be looking build a side around their top players. Surprisingly, this is the first trade-off from the franchise and all the eyes will be on them to check whether they release some of their underperforming players ahead of the auction.

[interaction id=”5dcd637bd42ed3f7503f9729″]