Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named West Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Johnson Charles as a replacement for Litton Das for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Charles has played 41 T20Is for West Indies, scoring 971 runs, and was a part of West Indies' 2012 and 2016 ICC World Twenty20-winning squads. He has also played in 224 T20 matches and has more than 5600 runs to his name. He will join KKR for INR 50 lakh.
Litton Das, the Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter, had to fly back home due to an urgent family medical emergency. KKR informed about his departure in a statement a few days back, saying, "Litton Das has had to return to Bangladesh earlier today (Friday, April 28) due to an urgent family medical emergency. Our wishes go out to him and his family to make it through this difficult time."
In last year's player auction, Litton Das was picked by Kolkata at his base price of INR 50 lakh in the accelerated round after he went unsold initially, marking his first brush with the IPL. Das then made his IPL debut after completing his international commitments in Kolkata's match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 20. However, his debut wasn't fruitful as he made just four runs off as many balls. He also missed two critical stumpings of Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel in a low-scoring thriller won by Delhi.