The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) replaced all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla with batsman Debabrata Das for the Champions League T20 tournament, which will be held in South Africa from Tuesday.
Laxmi has decided to give the tournament a miss due to personal problems. "My father is not keeping well… He is suffering from pneumonia. He is critical and has been hospitalised for the last 20 days…"
"I played for Bengal in the Challenger Trophy because it was happening in the country. For Champions League, I have to travel to South Africa and will have to be outside the country for 20 days. I cannot afford to stay away from him for so many days."
Laxmi said he was disappointed to miss the tournament. "I'm really sad that I could not play for KKR in the CLT20. That too, in a year in which we won the IPL. Even if I travel to South Africa, the thought of my father will always be in the back of my mind and will hamper my game."
The squad
Gautam Gambhir (captain), Iqbal Abdullah, Shakib al Hasan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Rajat Bhatia, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Brendon McCullum (wk), Sunil Narine, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das, Mohammed Shami, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary.
