New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals (RR) have picked South Africa’s Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to an injury. The uncapped 19-year-old will join RR for his base price of Rs. 30 lakh. Rana had a decent outing for RR in the ongoing season before picking up the injury.
Pretorius is an explosive left-hand opening batter and wicketkeeper. He is yet to make his international debut but has featured in 33 T20s and scored 911 runs. His highest score of 97(51) came on his debut for the SA20 franchise Paarl Royals against Sunrisers Eastern Cape earlier this year. The knock was one of the best of the season. He finished as the leading run-scorer at SA20 2025, accumulating 397 runs at a strike rate of 166.80 in 12 matches.
For the unversed, the Paarl franchise in the SA20 is also owned by the owners of the Rajasthan Royals. After Pretorius’ stint at the SA20, he was roped in by Hampshire for the Vitality Blast, which marked his first stint at county cricket. He was also a part of the U19 South Africa squad at the ICC World Cup 2024 and was the leading run-scorer for the team.
Nitish Rana scored 217 runs for the Royals, at a strike rate of 161.94 this season, and notched up a highest score of 81, which was one of his two noteworthy performances of RR’s dismal campaign. The 81 came off 36 balls against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Guwahati, and his other knock of 51 off 28 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Delhi drew praise as well.
Rajasthan Royals have already been eliminated from the play-offs race along with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and CSK. They have only managed three wins in 12 matches in 2025 and sit ninth in the ten-team tournament. Their last two games are against CSK in Chennai on May 12 and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Jaipur on May 16.
