South Africa’s wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen will replace Steven Smith in the Rajasthan Royals squad in IPL.
Meanwhile, BCCI banned Smith in the wake of the recent ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Rajasthan Royals in a statement earlier today named Klaasen as the replacement. Rajasthan roped him for a base price of Rs 50 lakh from the pool.
Previously, Royals head of cricket, Zubin Bharucha indicated Klaasen’s ability to tackle the spin impressed them. The right-handed batsman played Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal with great authority when others suffered during the ODI series early this year.
“Klaasen is an amazing player of spin. He has a vast array of shots, which tempted us to go for him. He plays the reverse sweep very well, something that will be quite useful in the IPL,” Bharucha told TOI earlier.
Meanwhile, Klaasen expressed his delight to play in one of the best T20 leagues. He is also looking forward to sharing the dressing room with some amazing talents.
Incidentally, Klaasen wasn’t originally picked for the limited-overs series against India but came in as a replacement for regular ‘keeper Quinton de Kock, who picked up a wrist injury.
The middle-order batsman grabbed eyeballs when he hammered 69 off just 30 deliveries, in his second T20I for South Africa. He guided his team to chase down a target of 198 runs in 19 overs.
In his 49-match T20 career, Klaasen has 1043 runs at an average of 35.96 and a strike rate just above 146.
Given the presence of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler amongst Royals’ squad, it is likely that Klaasen will feature in the line-up as a pure batsman.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan will start their campaign on April 9 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
