IPL 9: Injury rules Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder John Hastings out of tournament

New Delhi: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered a major blow on Tuesday as their Australian all-rounder John Hastings has been ruled out for rest of the tournament.

Ankle injury forced the Aussie to leave the tournament in the middle and fly back home.

Hastings hurt himself during the warm-ups before KKR's match against Mumbai Indians last week.

He has been a crucial player for the two-time champions KKR.

As per the media reports, KKR are in talks with a replacement, whose name they will disclose only after the IPL technical committee has cleared the paperwork.

Kolkata's assistant coach, Simon Katich said the franchise had always been interested in the replacement player.

"It's someone that we had already looked at in the auction. Obviously, we did get John. He [Hastings] was right up there on the priority list when we went for the auctions. We didn't know if it was going to come through or not so we had a few other names in mind. We'll find out if it comes through," Katich was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.