Uncapped West Indian all-rounder Dominic Drakes on Wednesday (October 6) replaced injured England all-rounder Sam Curran in the Chennai Super Kings squad for the remainder of the Indian Premier League.


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Left-handed batsman Drakes has featured in one First-Class, 25 List A, and 19 T20 matches so far. He is the son of former West Indies fast bowler Vasbert Drakes. Dominic had starred with an unbeaten 48 off 24 balls to help his side St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in winning the Caribbean Premier League 2021 title in September this year. He also took 16 wickets, becoming the joint fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.


Curran was ruled out of the remaining matches of the IPL 2021 and also the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup due to a lower back injury that he suffered during one of the IPL matches.



The 23-year-old Sam complained of pain in his back after the match against Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi on October 2. He did not bat and leaked 55 runs in his four overs in the game. The scans later revealed the nature of his injury and ruled him out of both the marquee tournaments - IPL as well as the T20 World Cup, which begins on October 17.


"Results of the scan revealed the injury. He (Sam Curran) will fly back to the UK in the next couple of days and will have further scans and a full review later this week from the ECB's medical team," the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.


It was only his second outing in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021. Overall, in nine IPL games this season, Curran took nine wickets at an economy of 9.93 and scored 56 runs from four innings.



"Unfortunately I have received gutting news that I will, unfortunately, be missing the remainder of the IPL season and the World Cup. Extremely gutted...absolutely loved my time with Chennai this season. The boys are doing extremely well," said Curran on Tuesday.


Chennai Super Kings take on Punjab Kings in their last league game on Thursday at the Dubai International Stadium.