Finch, who has over 2000 IPL runs and has appeared in 87 IPL games, will join KKR for Rs 1.5 million.
For the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) hired Aaron Finch as a replacement for England batter Alex Hales on Friday (March 11). According to an official IPL statement, Hales’ withdrawal from the competition was due to bubble fatigue.
Finch, the ICC T20 World Cup-winning captain of Australia, has played 88 T20 Internationals and scored 2686 runs with two hundreds and 15 half-centuries. Finch, who has over 2000 IPL runs and has appeared in 87 IPL games, will join KKR for Rs 1.5 million.
Finch will be representing his eighth club in the IPL, which will establish a new record. The Australian batsman has previously represented Rajasthan Royals (2010), Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals, 2011-12), Pune Warriors India (2013), Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014), Mumbai Indians (2015), Gujarat Lions (2016-17), Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings, 2018), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (2020).
Finch has only played in four of the last 14 IPL seasons, in 2008, 2009, 2019, and 2021.
Meanwhile, Hales becomes the second English player to withdraw from the league due to the difficulties of bubble living, after Jason Roy’s departure from the Gujarat Titans, one of the two new clubs this season.
“I’m sorry to say that I’ve had to make the tough choice to withdraw from the next IPL. I don’t think I can commit to another lengthy term in a secure environment after spending the previous four months away from home in confined bio bubbles and testing positive for COVID in Australia “In a message on Twitter, Hales stated.
🚨 Aaron Finch joins KKR as a replacement for Alex Hales.
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 11, 2022
Welcome to the #GalaxyOfKnights, @AaronFinch5! 💜#KKR #KKRHaiTaiyaar #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/3HnSyKogV2
“It wouldn’t be fair to the team or to myself if I couldn’t perform at the desired level due to chronic bubble fatigue. I’m heartbroken to have to pass up one of my finest professional possibilities because of the mental toll that the previous two years of bubble living have done on my mental health. In preparation for the summer, I’ll now take some time to relax and refresh. I’d want to express my gratitude to KKR for believing in us during the auction and for their continued support over the last several weeks. I wish Baz, Shreyas, and the rest of the squad the best of success in the competition, and I hope to see Knight Riders supporters again soon “Further, he remarked.
On March 26, KKR, the two-time IPL champions, will play Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to kick off the IPL 2022 season.
Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Chamika Karunaratne, Baba Indrajith, Ashok Sharma, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet To