Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have suffered a big setback ahead of the eleventh edition of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) as left-handed star Australian pacer Mitchell Starc will miss the tournament due to injury, Cricket Australia announced on Friday.
The injury also kept Starc out of the fourth and the final Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg and he was replaced by 31-year-old debutant Chadd Sayers in the playing XI.
"Mitchell Starc has a 'tibial bone stress in his right leg'. He will return home for further assessment after the Test and will miss the IPL," Cricket Australia announced on Twitter.
An injury blow for Mitchell Starc: https://t.co/9BG985legB #SAvAUS pic.twitter.com/K7v6tbLUFM
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) March 30, 2018
Starc was bought for a whopping sum of ₹9.4 Cr by KKR during the IPL auction back in January.
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The Australian pacer will unfortunately miss the tournament for the third year in a row. Last year, just ahead of the auction, Starc ended his association with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to focus on international cricket, while in 2016, a foot fracture kept him out of the tournament.
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