Punjab Kings have signed a deal with England leg-spinner Adil Rashid for the second half of IPL 2021. Rashid has been included in the team in place of Australian fast bowler Jhye Richardson. Punjab Kings gave this information by issuing a press release.
Richardson will not be able to play in the second half of the IPL to be played in UAE due to injury. Earlier, the franchise had included Australian bowler Nathan Ellis in place of Riley Meredith.
Rashid will be playing in IPL for the first time. Rashid did not find any buyer in the IPL 2021 auction. Rashid is joint second in terms of taking the most wickets in T20 Internationals for England. He has 65 wickets in 62 matches to his name.
Richardson was bought by Punjab Kings in the auction for a huge amount of 14 crores. Although he got a chance to play only three matches and only three wickets came in his account. Rashid was part of the Northern Superchargers in the recently concluded The Herend tournament and took 12 wickets while bowling brilliantly.
Punjab Kings are at number six in the points table. So far in eight matches, Punjab’s team has been able to win only three.