Ambati Rayudu, Blessing Muzarabani End CPL Stints Due To Personal Reasons, Tim David Unlikely To Be Available For Trinbago Knight Riders

Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu has made himself unavailable for the remainder of the Caribbean Premier League ending his short stint with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots due to personal reasons. The 37-year-old scored only 47 runs in the three innings he played in the CPL 2023.

Indian veteran batter Ambati Rayudu hung up his boots in Indian Cricket after the final against defending champions Gujarat Titans at Narendra Modi Stadium. The right-arm batter has played 55 ODIs and 6 T20Is and has hit three hundreds for India and joined St Kitts and Nevis Patriots as a marquee player for this season making himself the second Indian to take part in the event after Pravin Tambe.

Earlier it was revealed that Ambati Rayudu will return to the Mumbai Indians camp after a long time, as he was picked amongst the eight new signings by the MI Emirates franchise for the second season of the ILT20 tournament which will begin in January 2024.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwean speedster Blessing Muzarabani will also leave the tournament midway due to personal commitments, as St Kitts and Nevis have named Benny Howell and Will Smeed as the replacement players for both outgoing stars.

Patriots are having a poor campaign in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League, as they failed to secure a single win in the six games of the tournaments, while the first two games were abandoned due to rain, and in their last game against TKR, Sherfane Rutherford was seen leading the team in place of their regular skipper Evin Lewis.

Saint Lucia Kings’ skipper Faf du Plessis withdrew from the Caribbean Premier League at the mid-way stage of the tournament due to an elbow injury. The 39-year-old has been suffering from the same injury for the past couple of years but was playing using cortisone injections as a temporary solution.

Faf du Plessis has been playing cricket continuously in 2023, starting from the inaugural edition of SA20, followed by the Indian Premier League, Major Cricket League, and the ongoing CPL 2023, which may have led to the aggravation of the injury and the former Proteas batter will look to make a strong comeback after the injury in SA 20 in 2024.

Trinbago Knight Riders is unlikely to have the services of hard-hitting Australian finisher Tim David for the major part of the CPL 2023 after him called up for the Australian ODI side for the five-match series against South Africa after his brilliant show in the T20 opener against Proteas on Wednesday.