IPL 2023: Lockie Ferguson returns to Kolkata Knight Riders from Gujarat Titans; Gurbaz also traded
Gujarat Titans traded New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson and Afghanistan's wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz to Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2023.
The Titans had bought Ferguson for Rs 10 crore at the IPL mega auction earlier this year. He played 13 matches for the side and scalped 12 wickets which included a four-wicket haul.
Ferguson previously represented KKR, the two-time champions, from 2017 to 2021.
Gurbaz, on the other hand, was included in the Gujarat Titans squad in the previous edition as a replacement for England batter Jason Roy, but the 20-year-old did not play any game last season.
Earlier, IPL made an announcement of the first trade for the 2023 season. Mumbai Indians acquired the Australian Fast bowler Jason Behrendorff from the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The left-armer was a part of MI back in 2018 and the 2019 seasons.
"Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff has been traded from Royal Challengers Bangalore to Mumbai Indians for the forthcoming TATA IPL Season 2023. He was acquired by RCB in the 2022 TATA IPL Auction for his base price of INR 75 lakh," IPL said in a statement.
The announcement of Shikhar Dhawan to take over the captaincy of Punjab Kings from Mayank Agarwal in the 2023 edition of IPL was made.
While Agarwal was retained by the Kings, Dhawan was bought for Rs. 8.25 crore in the mega auction. In the 2022 season of IPL, Dhawan smashed 460 runs in 14 games with a strike rate of 122.66 and an average of 38.33.
The Delhi Capitals are all set to leave players like all-rounder Shardul Thakur, and wicketkeeper batters KS Bharat and Tim Seifert. The other expected players to be released are batters Mandeep Singh and Ashwin Hebbar.
The IPL 2023 mini-auction is set to take place on December 23 in Kochi, said PTI citing BCCI sources.
As per reports, teams can retain up to 15 players in the list this time, while they will have to leave the rest 10 out. The total purse for each team in the 2023 auction will be 95 crores.
The retention deadline is 15th November and the teams have to give the list of retained players before that.
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