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Botha in, Richardson out of IPL

Adelaide Strikers bowler withdraws for personal reasons, Botha joins Kolkata Knight Riders

Australia and Adelaide Strikers fast-bowler Kane Richardson has withdrawn from the Indian Premier League for personal reasons.

The right-armer was due to join fellow Australians Shane Watson, Steve Smith, James Faulkner and Ben Cutting at Rajasthan Royals, but announced on Friday that he would not taking part.

Meanwhile, Richardson's former Strikers and South Australia teammate Johan Botha has accepted a late offer to join Sydney Sixers coach Trevor Bayliss at Kolkata Knight Riders.

Botha, who last month signed a three-year deal with Sixers, had entered February’s IPL auction but was passed in.

But when Kolkata were hit by injuries to Australian Chris Lynn and New Zealand allrounder Jimmy Neesham, Botha decided to make some last minute travel arrangements.

"Trevor Bayliss called me actually, and he wanted to know what my plans were for the next two months," Botha told sydneysixers.com.au.

"He asked me if I would like to join KKR, and I said of course.

"I went into the IPL auction, didn’t get picked up and thought that was it.

"I had started making plans to go to South Africa around early May, but now my plans have changed."

Former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood also joined the Knight Riders after Lynn and Neesham were forced to pull out.

Lynn was sidelined for up to 10 weeks after tearing his hamstring in the final Bupa Sheffield Shield match of the season.

The defending champion Knight Riders will also be without star Bangladeshi allrounder Shakib Al Hasan for all but two matches of the tournament due to Bangladesh's ODI series against Pakistan.

The Knights Riders will open the 2015 IPL against Ricky Ponting's Mumbai Indians on April 8.

Australians in the 2015 IPL

  • Chennai Super Kings: Mike Hussey, Andrew Tye
  • Delhi Daredevils: Nathan Coulter-Nile, Gurinder Sandhu, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis
  • Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh
  • Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Brad Hogg
  • Mumbai Indians: Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, Aiden Blizzard
  • Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Steve Smith, Ben Cutting
  • Royal Challengers Bangalore: Mitchell Starc, Nic Maddinson, Sean Abbott
  • Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Moises Henriques