IPL 2018: Four Players Who Can Replace Mitchell Santner

A knee injury to Mitchell Santner has ruled him out of IPL 2018.

Though an official announcement is yet to be made, but New Zealand Cricket Board has confirmed that he will sit out for six to nine months.

This automatically rules out Santner from playing his first season of IPL.

He was bought by Chennai Super Kings for an amount of Rs 50 Lakh.

Looking at his form, he could have been a big asset for the side.

CSK will now have to look for his replacement and they have enough time to ponder over it.

Let’s have a look at few prospects who can replace Santner in CSK camp:

Martin Guptill – One of the biggest players who went unsold in IPL auction is Martin Guptill.

After failing to get a buyer in the auction, Guptill showed his form in T20I cricket and scored 258 runs in the Trans Tasman series at an average of 51.60.

His 258 runs came at a strike-rate of 160.24. He scored one century and two half-centuries in total.

He has already drawn much attention after playing superb knocks at international level which has put him in line to be roped in as replacement of an injured player.

Guptil has played a total of 10 games in IPL where he has scored 189 runs.

He has been part of Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians.

Rajat Bhatia – Another big player who went unsold in the IPL auction was Rajat Bhatia.

The medium pace bowling all-rounder surprisingly found no buyers on the auction day.

Having played with MS Dhoni for a period of two years (for Rising Pune Supergiant), the CSK captain knows the capabilities of the all-rounder well.

His pace is none less than spin and he will be sort of like to like a replacement for Santner.

Rajat Bhatia has played a total of 95 games in IPL in which he has scalped 71 wickets and has also scored 342 runs .

He has represented Delhi Daredevils, Rising Pune Supergiant, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.

Baba Aprajith – The former India U19 player spent three years with Chennai Super Kings from 2013 to 2015, but did not get to play any game.

He continued his association with MS Dhoni and went to Rising Pune Supergiant for two years when CSK was banned.

There too, he did not get any game.

After warming bench for five years, he went unsold in IPL auction 2018 as he found no buyers on the auction day.

He is also a spin bowling all-rounder and will be like to like a replacement for Santner.

However, he might not get a game, again, should he be roped in by the franchise.

Samuel Badree – The former number 1 T20I spinner went unsold in the IPL auction, despite doing well for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last season.

He scalped nine wickets in seven games with an economy rate of 7.52.

He also scalped a hat-trick in his first game of the season, but all his laurels were no enough for him to get a buyer.

He has shown his prowess at T20I level but this has had no impact on IPL franchises.

As a result of it, he has just played 12 games in IPL.

Badree has also been part of Chennai Super Kings in past and keeping mind the pitch of Chennai, he would come handy if he plays for the franchise again.

Apart from CSK and RCB, he has also been part of Rajasthan Royals.

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