Rovman Powell has been ruled out for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to medical issues, thus the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have Madhya Pradesh mystery spinner Shivam Shukla. After the 10-day IPL 2025 suspension, Powell and England’s Moeen Ali were two of the foreign players who chose not to return to India.
The West Indian all-rounder was recovering from surgery and suffering from an injury, which prevented him from playing the rest of the season, according to the team’s statement. The team won’t be significantly impacted, though, given their chances of winning the IPL again were dashed on Saturday when their match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru was rained out, formally ending any slim aspirations they had of qualifying for the playoffs. Since both teams shared a point due to the washout, KKR, who now have 12 points from 13 games and are sixth in the standings, was mathematically eliminated.
🚨 The mystery spinner from MP is a Knight now!
Shivam Shukla replaces Rovman Powell for the remainder of the #TATAIPL2025 pic.twitter.com/usUoOnFzLG
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 18, 2025
The defending champions have chosen to include 29-year-old Shukla in the squad with one game remaining, providing the spinner with an opportunity to showcase his skills. Shivam just finished an incredible domestic cricket season. With a best of 4/29 against Bengal, he took eight wickets in as many games at an economy rate of just 6.30 during his participation in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
With 10 wickets, including a five-wicket haul, he finished as the Madhya Pradesh Premier League’s top wicket-taker, earning him this IPL opportunity.
The Knight Riders’ campaign hasn’t been great, unfortunately. Even with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, and Rinku Singh on the team, Ajinkya Rahane’s team had trouble gaining traction during the competition. The loss of key players that were essential to their 2024 championship push greatly damaged their campaign.
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