IPL 2024: Shardul Thakur Released By KKR - Reports

In a huge development, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have decided to let go of the India National Cricket Team bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction.

The IPL 2024 auction will be a mini-auction and it is scheduled to be held on December 19 in Dubai. BCCI has set November 26 as the deadline for the franchises to announce the list of retained and released players. Each team will have a purse of INR 100 crore this time around, which is an INR 5 crore increase from last season’s purse of INR 95 crore.

Shardul Thakur was recently seen in action in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 where he played 3 matches against Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh respectively.

He registered the bowling figures of 1/31, 0/12, and 1/59 in three games before being dropped from the playing XI. Notably, he wasn’t benched due to his performance and was in the plans of the team management. Instead, he was left out of the team due to the change in the combination following the injury to all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

KKR Release Shardul Thakur

According to the Indian Express, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have decided to release bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur ahead of the mini-auction. He was acquired by KKR through a trade with Delhi Capitals (DC) for INR 10.75 crore.

However, he was underwhelming both with bat and ball as a result, the franchise decided to release the all-rounder. Shardul Thakur was part of MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) between 2018 to 2021 before playing for Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the next two seasons.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Shardul Thakur scored 113 runs in 11 matches at an average of 14.13 and a strike rate of 161.43. With the ball, he picked 7 wickets at an average of 31.43, an economy of 10.48, and a strike rate of 18.00.

Overall, Shardul Thakur has played 86 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has scored 286 runs at an average of 11.92 and a strike rate of 140.20. With the ball, he has picked up 89 wickets at an average of 28.76, an economy of 9.16, and a strike rate of 18.83.