Johnson Charles joins KKR to replace Litton Das for the rest of IPL 2023

The Kolkata Knight Riders have recruited Johnson Charles of West Indies to replace Litton Das. The Bangladeshi will no longer participate in the 2023 edition of IPL, owing to a family medical emergency, and the decision has been officially announced by the team on their social media profiles. 

Das was purchased by the club for Rs 50 lakh during the auction, and he has only played one game of the 2023 season. He was also selected for Bangladesh’s series against Ireland. But, he has been sidelined for the time being. 

Johnson Charles joins KKR to replace Litton Das 

Charles was a member of the West Indies squad that won the T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016. He has played as an opener in 179 of his 219 T20 innings, with an average of 25.47 and a strike rate of 125.72.

It was only in October 2022 that Johnson Charles ended a six year spell away from the West Indies national team. He has played seven T20I games since then, and scored a century off only 39 deliveries in March. 

He will be playing in the Indian domestic league for the first time in his career, having played in the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before. But with his introduction, KKR will have to rework their international player strategy, with Andre Russell and Sunil Narine almost certain to make the eleven.