IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals name replacements for Nitish Rana and Sandeep Sharma

Rajasthan Royals have replaced Nitish Rana and Sandeep Sharma with two South Africa players.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have faced big blow as two of their key players have been ruled out of remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. RR’s middle-order batter Nitish Rana and pacer Sandeep Sharma have been ruled out of the remainder of IPL 2025 due to injuries.

Right-arm pacer Sharma injured his finger while bowling during an earlier game against Gujarat Titans (GT), while Rana has sustained a calf injury and will not be able to feature in the rest of the matches. RR have picked two South Africa players as replacements for both of the Indian stars.

Rana played in all 11 games for RR and slammed 217 runs at a strike rate of 161.94. He also smacked two half-centuries in IPL 2025 – an 81-run knock against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and 51 runs against Delhi Capitals (DC). Sharma picked nine wickets in 10 games at an economy of 9.89, with best bowling figures of 2/21

Lhuan-dre Pretorius replaces Nitish Rana; Nandre Burger comes in for Sandeep Sharma

RR have replaced Rana with Lhuan-dre Pretorius in IPL 2025. He is an uncapped player from South Africa who finished as the highest run-scorer in SA20 2025. He is a left-handed batsman who plays as an opener and wicket-keeper. He has been signed for INR 30 lakhs.

RR have roped in another Proteas player Nandre Burger as a replacement for Sharma. He has been inducted for Rs. 3.5 crores. Burger is a left-arm pacer who has played 10 international games for South Africa. He made his international debut in December 2023. Burger was also part of RR squad in IPL 2024.

Meanwhile, RR are already out of the race to playoffs. The IPL 2008 champions have won just three games and lost nine out of 12. They have six points and take the ninth spot in the points table. They will play two more matches in the tournament against CSK and Punjab Kings (PBKS).

However, both of them will be dead-rubber games for the Royals. CSK and SRH are the other two teams who are out of the playoffs’ race in IPL 2025.

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