Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch has been named as the replacement for England’s Alex Hales at the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Hales, who went to two-time champions Kolkata for $196,000 in the IPL auction last month, pulled out of the lucrative T20 tournament starting on 26 March, citing “bubble fatigue”.

He becomes the second English player to opt out of the league due to challenges of bubble life after Jason Roy earlier this month parted ways with Gujarat Titans, one of the two new teams this edition.

“We respect Alex Hales’ decision of choosing family and mental wellbeing over his participation in the upcoming season of the IPL,” Kolkata chief executive Venky Mysore said.

Finch, who led Australia to their first T20 World Cup title last year, went unsold in the auction but returns to the world’s most valuable cricket league, also for $196,000.

The 35-year-old Finch, a top-order batsman, has played 85 innings in the IPL over the years and scored 2,005 runs.

Kolkata, led by India’s Shreyas Iyer, will take on defending champions the Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of this season’s tournament that has been expanded to 10 teams.

© Agence France-Presse