Rajasthan Royals (RR) have announced the final set of their replacement players with the West Indian duo of Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas named as replacement players to join the squad for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) remainder, scheduled to be held in the UAE from September 19.
Left-handed opening batter from Trinidad and Tobago, Evin Lewis, will be a replacement for Jos Buttler.
Lewis, 29, had made his debut for West Indies during their 2016 World T20 campaign in India, and has 1318 runs to his name in 45 T20Is, at a strike rate of 158. The flamboyant batter has also scored 1847 runs for West Indies in 57 ODIs.
His blistering performances for the national side also led him to being picked up by the Mumbai Indians in 2018, for whom he scored 430 runs in 16 matches across 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Meanwhile, Jamaican right-arm pace bowler, Oshane Thomas, who is currently playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be joining as a replacement for Ben Stokes in the Royals’ set-up.
Thomas, 24, had made his international debut in 2018, having faced India in a bilateral ODI and T20I series. Since then, Thomas, a recipient of West Indies’ Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2019, has picked up 27 wickets in 20 ODIs, and 19 wickets in 17 T20Is.
In the IPL, the fiery bowler has represented the Royals in 2019, picking up five wickets in four matches, and was with the franchise during the 2020 season in the UAE as well.
Earlier on Monday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had announced Bengal cricketer Akash Deep as the replacement for all-rounder Washington Sundar, who was forced to be ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2021 season.
The franchise said that Sundar had picked a finger injury in England.
In the recent times, various franchises have signed replacements for players, who will miss out the second leg of the IPL due to international commitments or injuries.
While the Virat kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have signed Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga as replacement for Australia’s Adam Zampa. Hasaranga had bagged a total of seven wickets, including a four-wicket haul in the final T20I, in the recently held T20I series against India.
RCB also roped in Dushmantha Chameera for Daniel Sams, left-arm quick George Garton for Kane Richardson and Tim David for New Zealand’s Finn Allen.
Meanwhile, RR had earlier acquired Kiwi wicketkeeper-batsman Glenn Phillips as a replacement for England’s Jofra Archer while South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi has been signed to replace Andrew Tye.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) have roped in Aussie pacer Nathan Ellis for Riley Meredith and England leg-spinner Adil Rashid for Jhye Richardson.
On the other hand, KKR have snapped New Zealand’s Tim Southee, who will replace Australia’s Pat Cummins.
The 14th edition of the cash-rich league will resume with a blockbuster clash between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) on September 19.
The season was earlier forced to be postponed in May this year due to the emergence of Covid-19 cases among the players and support staffs inside the bio-bubble.
The BCCI had later, shifted the remaining part of the season to the UAE.