Morne Morkel will play no part in the Champions League after aggravating an injury while on national duty.

The big quick has been struggling with his shoulder for a while. The troublesome rotator cuff has finally flared up to such an extent that the Proteas enforcer needs to give it a rest.

The injury stems from excessive use and bowling on the flat pitches of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe on recent tours has pushed it over the edge. He is the third international player to pull out of the KKR squad after Australian batsmen Chris Lynn and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

The Kolkata franchise will still have five internationals to choose from and the team will still have a South African interest.  They are allowed to field a maximum of four foreign players in the starting eleven. Their options are now limited to: Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine, Ryan ten Doeschate, Andre Russell and Pat Cummins.

After being bought for INR 28 000 000 at the 2014 IPL auction, Morkel took 12 wickets in as many outings for KKR at an average of 30.58. Most importantly, though, his economy rate was a miserly 7.64 on pitches tailor made for stroke-play. He consistently stopped the opposition getting off to quick starts during the powerplay overs, an attribute that will be sorely missed in the CLT20.

Venky Mysore, the KKR chief executive, said: ‘He [Morkel] has had an ongoing problem. CSA informed BCCI that the injury was aggravated and was causing challenges with his ability to throw.  So he needed to be in the rehab for some time.’

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