IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders sign Dushmantha Chameera as Gus Atkinson's replacement

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named Dushmantha Chameera as a replacement for England pacer Gus Atkinson for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

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. More recently, Chameera represented Lucknow Super Giants in the 2022 season in which he picked up nine wickets from 12 matches.

Atkinson, who had been acquired by the two-time champions at his base price of Rs 1 crore, had earlier opted out of the 17th season of the world's biggest T20 league, following the footsteps of fellow English quick Mark Wood, who has since been replaced by West Indies pacer Shamar Joseph.

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The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has reportedly withdrawn both Atkinson and Wood from this year's IPL and have also had a hand in preventing Archer from putting in his name in the auction that took place in Dubai in December in order to manage their workload in the build-up to this year's T20 World Cup, which takes place in the Caribbean and the USA in June right after the IPL.

This year's IPL assumes greater significance given the short turnaround between the final, which usually takes place in the last week of May, and the T20 World Cup. As a result, the 17th season will be seen by many as an ideal platform for players to get valuable practice ahead of the mega event and will also be followed closely by the head coaches of the participating teams as they draw plans for the World Cup.