Australia's Kane Richardson to miss IPL 2020, RCB bring in Adam Zampa as replacement

In yet ar blow to IPL 2020, Australia's Kane Richardson is set to miss  upcoming tournament in UAE. Richardson who belonged to Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore has been replaced by ar Australian - Adam Zampa. While reason for Richardson's absence from IPL 2020 is unkwn, franchise anunced Aussie spinner Zampa as his replacement on Monday night. 

Richardson is currently a part of preliminary Australian squad touring England for ODI and T20 series. Interestingly, earlier in day, Richardson's teammate Josh Hazlewood had expressed 'concerns' over participating in IPL after 12 CSK players were infected with COVID-19. Hazlewood remarked that players participating in IPL 2020 would 'touch base' with Cricket Australia after clash against England and before travelling to UAE. 

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Suresh Raina pulls out of IPL 2020

In a massive jolt to Chennai Super Kings, veteran batsman Suresh Raina pulled out of upcoming tournament in UAE on Saturday. franchise's CEO had confirmed Raina's return to India, however, he refrained from revealing reason behind batsman's withdrawal. Sources have w reported that CSK star pulled out of IPL 2020 due to COVID threat that hit franchise on Friday as 12 members were infected with virus. Raina has travelled back to India to be with his wife and his two children as virus hit franchise just 3 weeks before IPL 2020 commenced. Apart from this, Raina was also grieving loss of his uncle who was killed in a robbery 10 days back.

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As virus threat looms over CSK, veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh, who is yet to travel to UAE, is likely to skip tournament. Sources have added that spinner is in two minds wher to travel to Middle East and join franchise or t. Due to virus threat, CSK's quarantine period has also been extended by ar week. 

Earlier on Friday, PTI reported that 12 members of MS Dhoni-led franchise had tested positive for vel Coronavirus. On Saturday, ar player of franchise had contracted infection. BCCI on Saturday confirmed that 13 personnel have been infected with virus including two players. BCCI has also informed that a total of 1988 RT-PCR Tests have been conducted between August 20-28 and that all affected personnel and ir close contacts are 'asymptomatic' and have been isolated. 

READ | RCB Hold 1st Virtual Meet Ahead Of IPL, Skipper Kohli Cautions Team Of Breaching Protocol

IPL 2020 in UAE

cash-rich tournament, which was earlier postponed, has been moved to UAE due to prevailing COVID-19 situation in India. tournament is all set to start on September 19 while final will be played on vember 10. BCCI has already issued an SOP for tournament and has also allowed COVID-19 replacement during tournament. Recently, Dream11 acquired title sponsorship rights for IPL 2020 for a whopping amount of Rs 220 crore after Vivo's exit. This year's edition will also feature COVID replacements that have been allowed by governing body in view of pandemic. 

READ | IPL 2020: Josh Hazlewood Admits He's 'concerned' On Joining CSK Squad After COVID-19 Cases

RCB Full Squad

Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande Parthiv Patel, Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad.