On Thursday, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has announced the addition of West Indies wicketkeeper batsman Johnson Charles to their team as a replacement for Liton Das for the remaining matches of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL).
Liton, who is a player for the Bangladesh national team, had joined the IPL for the first time this year. However, he had to leave India after featuring in only one game due to a family emergency towards the end of April.
KKR confirmed on Friday, April 28, that Liton Das had returned to Bangladesh due to a family medical emergency. The team expressed their condolences and wished him and his family the best during this challenging time.
In the single match that Liton played for KKR this year against the Delhi Capitals, he scored only four runs and had a tough time behind the stumps. He missed two stumping chances of Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav in the same match, which KKR eventually lost.
Liton had joined the KKR team in mid-April after missing the initial games due to his international commitments, while his Bangladesh teammate Shakib Al Hasan had earlier withdrawn from the tournament.
Johnson Charles, who will be replacing Liton Das, is a wicketkeeper-batter and has played 41 T20Is for the West Indies, scoring 971 runs. He was part of the West Indies squads that won the ICC World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2016.
Charles has also played 224 T20 matches, scoring over 5600 runs. Kolkata Knight Riders have signed him for 50 Lakh INR, and he is set to join the team for the remaining matches of the IPL 2023 season.
The Kolkata Knight Riders are scheduled to play against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday evening. However, Johnson Charles will not be available for this game as the exact date of his arrival is yet to be confirmed.