Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Sri Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Chameera comes in for England speedster Gus Atkinson for a reserve price of Rs. 50 lakh.
"Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named Dushmantha Chameera as a replacement for England pacer Gus Atkinson for the upcoming edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024," IPL wrote in a media advisory.
"Chameera will join KKR at a reserve price of INR 50 Lakh. The Sri Lankan speedster, who is known for his pace, and can trouble the batters with his swing and seam movements, was a part of Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2018 and 2021 IPL seasons, respectively. He represented Lucknow Super Giants in the 2022 season, where he picked up nine wickets from 12 matches," the advisory added.
Atkinson was set to play in the Indian cash-rich league for the first time and was picked for INR 1 crore by the two-time tournament-winning franchise at the 2024 auctions. However, the England Cricket Board is looking to manage Atkinson's workload as he has been on the road for quite some time. He was part of the ODI World Cup squad and featured in three matches, before being part of a white-ball tour to the Caribbean and is now part of the Test squad in India. However, the English speedster has not played any of the first three Tests with England going for James Anderson and Mark Wood.
He is also not part of the ongoing Pakistan Super League due to his commitments with the England Test squad. Atkinson was replaced by Shamar Joseph partially for the ongoing Pakistan Super League.
As for Chameera, he was not picked at the IPL auction in December. He was recently seen at the ILT20, playing for the Dubai Capitals. The Lankan pacer has been part of three IPL franchises before but has played in the tournament only for the Lucknow Super Giants in 2022. He took 9 wickets in 12 games in the 2022 season of the tournament, which was LSG's first in the Indian league.
