Ahead of its away match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens here, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting on Thursday informed that pacer Harshal Patel was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury.
Giving details of Harshal’s injury, Ponting said, “He has suffered a fracture in his right hand in the game against Kings XI [Punjab]. It took us a few days to get to the bottom of that fracture. He has had some X-rays. It’s a three-four week injury. So you would have seen we have three-four guys out in the nets. We would have a look at few different players.”
Ponting also informed about batsman Manjot Kalra’s fitness. “Manjot has had a niggle in his right arm for the first part of this tournament. So we need him to pass a full fitness test today. So that’s the reason we have got as many guys here on trial.”
Kelly for Nortje
Meanwhile, KKR replaced injured South African pacer Anrich Nortje with Australian Matt Kelly.
“The kind of budget we had and the options we had, we felt Matt Kelly fitted into the bill. Someone who has done very well in the BBL and contributes with the bat,” said Abhishek Nayar, one of the KKR coaches.
Nayar said Andre Russell, who had a fitness issue, “looks okay” as he came on to field in the last match against Chennai Super Kings.