A "tibial bone stress fracture in his right leg" has ruled Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc out of the fourth Test against South Africa, and the IPL, which starts on April 7 in Mumbai. Starc's injury has added to a series of horrible news for Australia after the ball-tampering controversy, which most recently saw Darren Lehmann's announcement to step down as their coach after the ongoing Test in Johannesburg.
Starc will fly home after the fourth Test for further assessment. His injury handed a Test debut to Chadd Sayers on Friday, which was the fourth change in the Australia XI with Steven Smith, David Warner Cameron Bancroft having flown back home.
Starc's injury has added to Kolkata Knight Riders' worries too, who bought him for nearly USD 1.47 million in January. Knight Riders are already waiting on injury updates for Chris Lynn and Andre Russell, and an update on Sunil Narine, whose action was reported during the PSL earlier this month. Narine will be allowed to bowl in the IPL, but will be under scrutiny by the match officials considering he had been banned from bowling in the league in the past. Knight Riders are confident about Russell and Lynn being available during the first half of the tournament.
Starc is the third Australian player to be ruled out of the IPL this week after Smith and Warner were banned from participating in the league by the BCCI. Starc had been troubled by a calf injury before the start of the third Test, and suffered a heel problem that ruled him out of the Boxing Day Test in the Ashes too.