NEW DEHLI: Billy Stanlake, the Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler, will miss the remainder of IPL 2018 because of a fractured finger. He sustained the injury during Sunrisers’ game against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday and has flown back home to Australia for further treatment.
“Indian and Australian orthopaedic specialists have advised that Billy Stanlake should not play the remaining part of IPL 2018,” a Sunrisers release said. “Billy sustained a displaced fracture on his right-hand fifth finger whilst fielding and surgical reduction and fixation were required to restore function to that finger.”
Sunrisers have not named a replacement for Stanlake yet and are already grappling with injury concerns to their pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They do, however, have a strong Indian pace-bowling contingent with Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed waiting on the bench.
Stanlake finished the tournament with five wickets in four matches at an economy of 8.12. He impressed with his ability to generate steep bounce and at over 140kph consistently. He also hit the winning runs for Sunrisers in a dramatic dramatic game against Mumbai earlier in the tournament.
Stanlake, who represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2017, was bought at the auction by Sunrisers at his base price of INR 50 lakhs (US$ 78,000 approx).
