IPL 2016: Kevin Pietersen likely to miss RPS matches for fortnight; opens avenues for Mitchell Marsh or Albie Morkel

IPL 2016 is bringing sudden news of injuries and cricketers stepping out of tournament or either returning after a month back to the squad. This time it was Kevin Pietersen facing calf injury during the ongoing the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) match on Friday at Pune. Pietersen faced just a single spell and caught a pull in his calf leading him to make way out of the crease limping, while trying to take a quick single. This has lead to severe injury that has made him to stay away from the tournament for fortnight and with this injury RPS are thinking of various options to get the right combination in squad. Pietersen also posted a picture on Instagram to explain his plight due to the injury. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 16 at Pune

Urgh!

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A photo posted by KP (@kp24) on Apr 22, 2016 at 1:46pm PDT

The injury scene was witnessed by former South African cricketer Mark Boucher who tweeted “KP was ‘getting old’.” To which KP tweeted back and said “Off the golf course for few weeks now.” This has added more worries for RPS to bring some changes to RPS squad and can open doors for Australia’s Mitchell Marsh, who has stayed away from last two games of RPS. Skipper MS Dhoni made a special mention saying, “We’re playing with six bowlers, yet our death bowling isn’t great. KP’s injury can be a blessing in disguise. Maybe we can look to bring in Albie Morkel or Mitch Marsh in the next game. With the kind of players we’ve got, it has always been difficult to drop someone. We need to strengthen our bowling line a bit.” READ: Kevin Pietersen retired hurt, Steven Smith run out against RCB in IPL 2016

Mitchell has shown his talent with bowling as for Morkel, he is yet to feature and perform for this year’s IPL. Marsh was bid to RPS for 4.8 crorers and is enjoying his opportunity to play against cricketing greats. The all-rounder told cricket.com.au, “That’s the one thing that’s great about world cricket these days – there’s so many T20 competitions that international players play with each other all around the world. You get to understand people. Your thoughts of them on the field aren’t necessarily what they’re like off the field. We’ve got a great relationship going with all the boys and we’ve got a lot of international players within our side and we’re all gelling together beautifully.”

There is also possibility for call up of Adam Zampa, the young Australian spinner, if RPS wishes to strengthen their slow bowling skills. There also chances for Peter Handcomb to take up the place in the middle-order and make his IPL debut. RPS is set to play their next against KKR at Pune on Monday.