Former Australian pacer, Mitchell Johnson, who was all set to make his debut for Karachi Kings in PSL’s third edition, has withdrawn from the tournament due to personal reasons.
Johnson revealed his decision on Tuesday. He wrote on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MitchJohnson398/status/953270861695401985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.espncricinfo.com%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F22121121%2Fmitchell-johnson-pulls-psl
Johnson was initially unsold in the Platinum category but was later grabbed by Karachi Kings in Diamond category.
Despite opting out of PSL, the Australian has made himself available for the Indian Premier League (IPL) which can be seen as a sign of disrespect towards the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
According to IPL representative:
He [Johnson] is among 36 players who have listed their base price at the maximum of INR 2 crore (USD 315,000 approx) ahead of the IPL auction on January 27 and 28.
However, from the tweet it is suggested that Johnson might simply be looking to reduce the amount of cricket he’s playing.
To talk about Johnson’s current performance, he is the joint second-highest wicket taker in the ongoing Big Bash League with seven wickets in as many matches.
There is no doubt that Karachi Kings have suffered a huge blow especially since Usman Khan is also sidelined for six-months due to a stress fracture.
Karachi Kings’ Updated Squad:
Shahid Afridi, Usman Khan, Usama Mir, Khurram Manzoor, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim (capt), Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Colin Ingram, Luke Wright, David Wiese, Tabish Khan, Mohammad Irfan Jnr., Hasan Mohsin
Supplementary players: Colin Munro, Eoin Morgan, Saifullah Bangash
Mitchell please don’t play in iPl as well. If you just need money, we will pay more than those iPl thugs.
You can’t.
blatantly he was talked out of it by his ipl team, to protect himself from injury.