The all-rounder was denied permission by the BCB to skip a one-off test against Ireland
Two-time IPL champions KKR were dealt a major blow late last night when their star Bangladeshi all-rounder decided to opt out of IPL 2024. It is being speculated that the reason behind Shakib’s decision is that the Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) has not allowed him and the Bangladeshi keeper batter Litton Das to skip the one-off test against Ireland which started today (April 4). The board has already informed the BCCI about their unavailability till 8 April which means the duo will miss the first couple of matches played by KKR. The news of both the players not getting NOC came in just before the start of the IPL and now in a recent development Shakib who is also the test skipper of Bangladesh has decided to opt out of IPL 2024. It is a huge blow for KKR a team that is already deprived of its captain Shreyas Iyer who is nursing a back injury and now with Shakib opting out of IPL this year the problem has increased manifold for the management, especially in the batting department which looks very inexperienced and only has the likes of interim captain Nitish Rana and Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russel who has not been in form in the last few IPL season.
Image Courtesy: Zee News
What will happen without Shakib
One positive thing for KKR that came out from their first match against Punjab Kings was that they came close to chasing the target and had the rain not interrupted the match they might have won it given the fact that they had two very capable batters in Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine present at the crease when the game was stopped due to rain. So, if you are a KKR fan you can be optimistic about KKR’S performance in the first home game versus RCB.
Talking about Litton Das, the keeper batter is expected to join the team after the test match against Ireland is done and dusted which means he will be with the team after their match against RCB which is on Thursday. The addition of Litton Das would add strength to KKR’S batting which struggled last year as the team finished in the bottom half of the table and failed to qualify for the playoffs. Another player who can be valuable for KKR is Rinku Singh. The batter who hails from Uttar Pradesh has been in prolific form in the last few domestic seasons and has been scoring runs consistently for his state. He showed signs of a batter who can handle pressure and can be the pillar that holds the batting lineup together while batting in the middle order. If Rinku can score runs this season it will help the KKR batting a lot and it will also take the pressure off Andre Russel’s shoulder who has been a sort of lone warrior when it comes to finishing matches for KKR and hasn’t been able to finish matches consistently for the team in the last few seasons. With Rinku controlling the middle order it gives Russell the chance to play freely and finish matches for the team. Another thing that KKR has done well this season is that they have added Shardul Thakur to their squad an all-rounder who can contribute useful runs down the order along with Narine.
Image Courtesy: India Today
