Rajasthan Royals have signed South African left-handed batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season due to a calf injury.
The franchise thanks Nitish for his contributions and wishes him a quick recovery.
Nitish Rana has been one of the Royals’ standout batters in IPL 2025, having contributed with 217 runs in 11 matches at an average of 21.70.
The left hander’s tally for the season includes two half-centuries - a match-winning 81 off 36 balls against Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati and a 51 off 28 against Delhi Capitals in Delhi.
Nitish Rana was a fixture in the RR playing XI throughout the ongoing season before being replaced by Kunal Singh Rathore for their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens due to a niggle. He has now been ruled out for the rest of the season.
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A promising wicketkeeper batsman, Pretorius is yet to make his international debut for South Africa but has shown immense talent with the bat. He has scored 911 runs in 33 T20 matches in his career with a highest score of 97.
The 19-year-old was South Africa’s top run-scorer at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2024.
Pretorius joins the Royals at his base price of INR 30 lakhs.
RR have two matches left to play in the IPL 2025 league stage. They will face CSK in Chennai on May 12 before returning home to Jaipur to host Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium for their final game of the season.
