New Delhi, May 8: Rajasthan Royals (RR) have named Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to injury.

The South African, who has played 33 T20s and scored 911 runs with a highest score of 97, will join RR for his base price of Rs 30 Lakh.

Hard-hitting left-hander Pretorius, who can also keep wicket, made his T20 debut last year for Northerns aged just 17 after impressing for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup.

He then finished as the leading run-scorer in his SA20 debut, with 397 in 12 matches for Paarl Royals hitting at a stunning strike-rate of 166.80 earlier this year.

Rana, who was released by KKR ahead of the mega auction for 2025, was bought by RR for 4.20 crore. But the batter failed to justify his price tag as he sxored just 217 runs in 11 games before being ruled out of the tournament.

The middle-order batter missed missed out on the team’s playing 11 for the clash against his old franchise KKR with RR skipper Riyan Parag, explaining that he has a ‘niggle’ and thus wasn’t fit to play. In Rana's place, Kunal Rathore made his debut for the side.

RR suffered an agonising one-run loss to KKR despite skipper Riyan Parag' 95. He also became the first player in IPL history to hit six maximums on the trot in the competition.

RR, who are already eliminated from the playoff race, will play bottom placed Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk on May 12 before returning home to host Punjab Kings in Jaipur in their final match of the IPL 2025 season on May 16.

(IANS)

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