WI pace sensation Shamar Joseph roped in by LSG as Mark Wood's replacement
West Indies pace sensation Shamar Joseph, who single-handedly won a Test against Australia last month, was on Saturday roped in by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the upcoming IPL season as replacement for England's Mark Wood.
The 24-year-old Joseph destroyed the star-studded Australian batting line-up in their second innings with amazing figures of 7 for 68 to help West Indies notch up a famous win at Gabba, Brisbane, last month to emerge as one of the most sought-after fast bowlers in the world.
He will join LSG for RS 3 crore and this will be Joseph's first stint in the IPL.
"Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) named Shamar Joseph as replacement for pacer Mark Wood for the upcoming edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024," the IPL said in a statement.
"Joseph will join LSG for INR 3 Crore. The speedster was recently at the forefront during West Indies' Test win at the Gabba. He picked 7 wickets in the 2nd innings to script a historic win in Australia for West Indies."
The development could mean that Wood will not be available for the IPL 2024, though the reason is not known. He is currently with the England team which is touring India for a five-match Test series.
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Chhattisgarh: 3 Naxalites killed in Sukma encounter carried cumulative bounty of Rs 18 lakh
Raipur (PTI): Three Naxalites killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district a day ago were senior members carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 18 lakh, police said on Friday.
An encounter broke out on the hill of Paliguda-Gundrajgudem in Sukma, where a joint team of security personnel was out on an anti-Naxalite operation on Thursday morning. Bodies of three Naxalites were recovered from the scene.
One of the slain Naxalities, Korsa Mahesh, was an expert in improvised explosive devices (IED) and was the alleged mastermind of violent incidents in 2023 and 2024 in Bedre (Bijapur) and Jagargunda (Sukma) areas, an official said.
Mahesh was active as deputy commander of Maoists' platoon no. 30 and carried a bounty of Rs 8 lakh, Sukma superintendent of police Kiran Chavan said.
He said the two others, Madvi Naveen and Avlam Bheema, were area committee members and carried a bounty of Rs 5 lakh each.
The official said two barrel grenade launchers (BGLs), a 12-bore rifle, three tiffin bombs, five BGL shells and a cache of explosives and Maoist-related items were recovered from the encounter site.
"Mahesh was an expert in making, planting and triggering IEDs. He was allegedly involved in several incidents, including the Naxal attack in December, 2023 near Bedre, in which CRPF sub-inspector Sudhakar Reddy was killed, and the IED blast on a truck in June last year in Jagargunda that killed two CRPF personnel," Chavan said.
According to the police, nine Naxalites have been killed in three encounters at separate places in the state so far this year.
