Australia opener Aaron Finch has joined Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a replacement for England batter Alex Hales ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Right-handed batter Hales has pulled out of the 15th edition of the marquee event citing bubble fatigue, the KKR franchise informed on Friday. (More Cricket News)
Finch has played 87 IPL games and has scored 2005 runs. He will join KKR at the price of INR 1.5 crore. Notably, the player had gone unsold at the IPL auction 2022. He had last played at the tournament in the 2020 edition for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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“We are delighted to welcome Aaron Finch, the T20 World Cup-winning captain, to the Knight Riders family. He is excited about joining the rest of the KKR squad in Mumbai and we look forward to benefiting from his vast experience,” said KKR CEO Venky Mysore.
Meanwhile, speaking on Hales' withdrawl, Mysore said: "We respect Alex Hales' decision of choosing family and mental well-being over his participation in the upcoming season of the IPL. We will miss having him in the Galaxy of Knights this season, but we wish him all the best."
Finch’s new IPL team and two-time champions KKR will start their IPL 2022 campaign with a match against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. It will also the first game of the 15th season of IPL.
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Notably, Shreyas Iyer will be leading KKR in the upcoming season. The franchise had bagged him for INR 12.25 crore at the IPL auction 2022.
