England’s fast bowler Reece Topley has joined MI Emirates ahead of the ILT20 knockouts on February 13, Tuesday. The announcement came after Topley had to opt out of the Pakistan Super League 2024.

MI Emirates also signed Sri Lankan batter Bhanuka Raapaksa along with USA’s wicketkeeper-batter Monank Patel ahead of the Qualifier 1 match. Topley and Monank joined as the replacements for Fazalhaq Farooqi and Corey Anderson respectively. Meanwhile, Rajapaksa joined the team as the 2nd Wild Card entry of the season.

Why did Reece Topley pull out of PSL?

The England and Wales Cricket Board, reportedly denied Topley a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to take part in the PSL. As per the reports, Topley had a niggle and, as part of precautionary measures, he wasn’t given NOC to travel to Pakistan to play the league. Multan Sultans suffered a huge blow because of this as the 29-year-old was ruled out of the entire tournament.

Topley represented Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20 league and played 12 matches for them. The team finished off as runners-up after losing to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the final. Topley was also retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the IPL 2024 auctions and is expected to play a big role for them after missing out majority of last season due to injury.

MI Emirates finished off as table toppers in the league stage. The team will play the qualifier match against Gulf Giants on February 14, Wednesday, at the Dubai International Stadium. MI Emirates won 6 out of the 10 matches that they played.

The defending champions, Gulf Giants, had also won the same number of matches as MI. However, due to a better run-rate, MI Emirates finished off at the top of the table. The head-to-head match-up between the 2 teams also stands 1-1 and hence, the 1st qualifier is expected to be a cracker of a contest.

MI EMIRATES UPDATED SQUAD

Akeal Hosein, Ambati Rayudu, Andre Fletcher, Monank Patel, Daniel Mousley, Dwayne Bravo, Reece Topley, Jordan Thompson, Kieron Pollard, Kusal Perera, McKenny Clarke, Muhammad Waseem, Nicholas Pooran (c), Nosthush Kenjige, Odean Smith, Trent Boult, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Waqar Salamkheil, Will Smeed, Zahoor Khan, Tim David, Kieron Pollard, Bhanuka Rajapaksa.