Alex Hales IPL 2023: Why will Hales not play IPL 2023 for KKR?

Dixit Bhargav | 16/11/2022
Alex Hales IPL 2023: Why will Hales not play IPL 2023 for KKR?

It is safe to say that Kolkata Knight Riders were the most active team during the recently closed trading window before the mini-auction for the 16th season of the Indian Premier League.

Knight Riders, who had finished at the seventh position (first time since 2013) on the points table, have already had to name a new head coach in former India batter Chandrakant Pandit following former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum’s ouster. With them buying a total of three cricketers during the trade window, a proactive approach is pretty evident to be seen at KKR.

Kolkata, who released a total of 16 cricketers (including six overseas) before the next season, currently have 14 players (including three traded players) with them. With the lowest purse available among all teams, Kolkata will have to be really judicious during the auction to be held in Kochi next month.

Alex Hales IPL 2023

England opening batter Alex Hales was one of the six overseas players released by Knight Riders yesterday. Coming on the back of reviving his international career via a fruitful ICC T20 World Cup campaign, all eyes were on Hales ahead of IPL 2023.

However, the 33-year old player joined the likes of Pat Cummins and Sam Billings to withdraw from the next season of the biggest T20 league in the world due to personal reasons. Unlike his English teammate in Billings, Hales didn’t announce anything across his social media handles. That being said, it was the franchise which made an announcement on Hales’ behalf.

It is worth mentioning that Hales was bought by KKR for his base price of INR 2 crore in the last auction. With him opting out of IPL 2022 due to bio-bubble fatigue, Australia T20I captain Aaron Finch was named as his replacement.

With the former not available for IPL 2023 either, Kolkata have released both of them especially after acquiring the services of Afghanistan wicket-keeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz from defending champions Gujarat Titans.

For the unversed, IPL 2018 was the only season when Hales had played in the IPL. Representing Sunrisers Hyderabad, Hales had scored 148 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 125.42.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Alex Hales Indian Premier League IPL 2023 KKR Kolkata Knight riders

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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