Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have roped in West Indies’ fast-bowler Shamar Joseph as a replacement for England tearaway pacer Mark Wood in their squad ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. The tournament said in a statement that Joseph will join LSG for INR 3 crore, which will also be the pacer’s first stint in the IPL.
Joseph was recently at the forefront of West Indies’ Test win over Australia by eight runs in the day-night Test match at The Gabba in Brisbane. Joseph set aside a right toe injury to scalp a sensational seven-wicket haul in the second innings for the visitors to secure a magical victory over Australia, which led to West Indies drawing the series at 1-1.
In that series, Joseph also became just the 14th player in the history of Tests, and the first from the West Indies, to take a five-wicket haul on debut, including taking Steve Smith out on his first ball in the format. Joseph had left a good impression during West Indies A's tour of South Africa, where he claimed 12 wickets. He hails from the remote village of Baracara in Guyana, a place which did not have telephone or internet connections until 2018.
Reaching Baracara takes time –- a 225km boat trip up the Canje River in Berbice that can take up to two days due to thick vegetation in the waterways. He made his first-class debut in the regional four-day competition only last year, before earning a CPL contract with Guyana Amazon Warriors after being initially drafted in as a net bowler.
Joseph had quit his job in a security firm two years to make a career out of playing cricket and his rise to playing top-level cricket, including a dream start to Test cricket, has now become one of the most heartwarming and inspiring stories in recent times. Due to his superlative performance in the Brisbane Test, Cricket West Indies (CWI) upgraded Joseph's franchise contract to an international retainer contract. The toe injury meant Joseph had to let go of playing in the ILT20 in the UAE and will be heading to Pakistan to play in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as a replacement player for Peshawar Zalmi.
IPL 2024 is likely to be played from the third week of March, with the final schedule to come once the India general election dates are revealed by the Election Commissioner of India (ECI).
Lucknow Super Giants squad for IPL 2024: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey and Mohd. Arshad Khan.
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