IPL 2021: KKR rope in Tim Southee for second leg

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have roped in New Zealand pacer Tim Southee as a replacement player for Pat Cummins, who is not going to be part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, set to be held in the UAE from September 19. Southee comes with an enormous experience under his belt as he is the third-highest wicket-taker in T20I cricket, picking up 99 wickets in 83 matches. He is also often used as a super-over specialist for the team, owing to his accurate bowling in the death overs.

Southee will now join his New Zealand teammate Lockie Ferguson, who is most likely to be given a run in the UAE leg of IPL in place of Cummins. But for that, Ferguson needs to recover in time from COVID-19, which he got in England earlier last week, which subsequently ruled him out of a T20 Blast game against Sussex. '

Meanwhile, Southee is not new in the IPL and has earlier played for teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Rajasthan Royals (RR), and Mumbai Indians (MI). He has so far picked 28 wickets in 40 matches in IPL. Southee is also a very handy batter and will add a lot of batting depth to KKR. Apart from that, he also has some experience of leading teams and can give valuable inputs to skipper Eoin Morgan. Currently, KKR are languishing at the bottom half of the points table with two wins in seven games.