Rajasthan Royals have replaced the injured Nitish Rana with 18-year-old uncapped South African batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius.
With three wins in 12 games, Rajasthan Royals are already out of the race for the IPL 2025 playoffs. Their ordinary run has been compounded by injuries, most notably to their captain Sanju Samson, who didn't field in their first three matches and has missed several subsequent games.
Rana missed RR’s last game against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and he too has now been ruled out of the season after scoring 217 runs at a strike rate of 162 from 11 games. RR have replaced him with Pretorius for the rest of the season for INR 30 lakh.
Earlier this year, Pretorius became an instant sensation at the SA20. Playing for the Paarl Royals, owned by RR, he was the leading run-scorer of the league, with 397 runs at a strike rate of 167. From 33 T20 games, he has hit 911 runs at a strike rate of 147.
Read: Why Lhuan-dre Pretorius' wrists make him T20 batting’s newest unicorn
T20 cricket, however, is not the only format Pretorius has excelled at. Having started his first-class career with two hundreds in his first two innings – a national record – he added another in the final of the domestic tournament. After five games in the format, his career record stands at 436 runs at 72.67.
In List A cricket, too, Pretorius has 577 runs at 44.38 and a strike rate of 111, making him one of the most dangerous cross-formats uncapped batters in contemporary cricket – all at less than two months since his 19th birthday.
RR’s remaining games in IPL 2025 are against Chennai Super Kings (who have also been eliminated) in Chennai on May 12, and against Punjab Kings in Jaipur on May 16.
