Rajasthan Royals sign 19-year-old South African Lhuan-dre Pretorius to replace injured Nitish Rana; details here

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have named a replacement for Nitish Rana who will miss the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season due to an injury. RR have already been eliminated from the Playoffs race and have two matches remaining in the league stage.

Nitish Rana's replacement

"Rajasthan Royals have named Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remainderof TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to injury," IPL released an official statement.

Who is Lhuan-dre Pretorius?

Lhuan-dre Pretorius is a South African player who was signed by RR at his base price of ₹30 lakhs. The 19-year-old wicket-keeper batter is a part of the Under-19 team of South Africa. In the 33 T20 matches he played and scored 911 runs with a highest score of 97.

Pretorius is also a key player for the Titans in domestic cricket. He competes for the Paarl Royals in the SA20 league. In the latest SA20 season, he topped the list of highest run-scorers, amassing 397 runs across 12 matches with an impressive strike rate of 166.81.

Nitish Rana's IPL journey

Nitish Rana made his IPL debut in the year 2016 with Mumbai Indians. In 2017 he played a significant role in MI's title-winning season. He scored 333 runs in 13 matches. Nitish then joined Kolkata Knight Riders in the year 2018 and played a crucial role for them in the next six years. After being a part of KKR's 2024 win, Nitish joined Punjab Kings in 2025 for ₹4.20 crore. In his IPL career so far, the star allrounder has amassed 2853 runs in 118 matches played with the highest score of 87 runs. He has hit 20 half-centuries and has smashed 261 fours and 141 sixes.

Nitish Rana in IPL 2025

Matches played: 11

Runs scored: 217

Highest score: 81

50s: 2

4s/6s: 27/9

RR upcoming matches

Rajasthan Royals have one of the upcoming matches at the home ground and the other at the opponents' home.

Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals - 12th May 2025 (Chennai)

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings - 16th May 2025 (Jaipur)