Kolkata Knight Riders have called in New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme in place of the suspended West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League 2017.
De Grandhomme, who has played six Tests, nine one-dayers and eight Twenty20 Internationals for New Zealand, will make his IPL debut, and be an apt replacement for the hard-hitting Russell, being a handy lower-order batsman himself. He also doubles as a more-than-useful seam bowler, famously taking a six-wicket haul on his Test debut against Pakistan.
Russell was ruled out of the tournament following his one-year ban. He was suspended for having violated a whereabouts clause under the anti-doping rules by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) earlier in January this year. Following the announcement in January, KKR CEO Venky Mysore, termed it as a “big loss”.
KKR will kickstart their campaign in the tenth edition of the tournament on Friday (April 7) in Rajkot against Gujarat Lions
