Jaipur, May 8: Rajasthan Royals (RR) have picked Nandre Burger as an injury replacement for Sandeep Sharma for the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the franchise announced on Thursday.

The left-arm South African pacer Burge, who has previously played for RR in the IPL 2024 and picked seven wickets from six games, joined RR for Rs 3.5 crore.

Sandeep, who played 10 matches for RR this season, has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament after suffering a fracture in his finger.

Sandeep suffered the injury during RR’s clash against Gujarat Titans (GT), which they won by eight wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium last month. Despite picking up the injury, the pacer completed his four-over spell, with his figures being 1-33. He also had the best economy rate for any RR bowler that day - 8.25 - while also picking the wicket of all-rounder Washington Sundar.

“He showed immense bravery to continue bowling with this injury in the last match, and everyone at the franchise wishes him a full and speedy recovery,” the franchise had said.

In 10 games, Sandeep, who was retained by the franchise last year for Rs 4 crore, picked nine wickets at an average of 40.11 and an economy rate of 9.89, with his primary responsibilities being bowling in the middle and death overs.

Earlier in the day, RR 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 IPL 2025 season due to a calf injury.

The 19-year-old was South Africa’s top run-scorer at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2024 and joined RR at his base price of Rs 30 lakh. The wicketkeeper batter 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.

Rana, was a fixture in the RR playing XI throughout the ongoing season, contributed 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 New Delhi.

He was replaced by Kunal Singh Rathore for RR's last game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens due to a niggle and was later ruled out of the tournament.

(IANS)

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