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South African wicketkeeper-batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius joins Rajasthan Royals as Nitish Rana’s replacement in IPL 2025 after the latter’s injury.
Lhuan dre-Pretorius has replaced Nitish Rana in Rajasthan Royals (Picture credit: ICC)
Star South African wicketkeeper-batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who bagged quite some attention during the recent SA20 for his power-hitting skills, has been roped in by the Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remainder of IPL 2025 because of an injury.
Pretorius has played 33 T20s and scored 911 runs with a highest score of 97, which came on his debut for the SA20 team Paarl Royals earlier this year. He was the leading run-getter in the tournament, recording 397 runs in 12 knocks at a strike rate of 166.8.
The Paarl team in the SA20 is owned by the owners of the Rajasthan Royals as well.
🇿🇦 Fearless. Power-packed. Royal!You’ve seen him in Pink — and you’ll see him soon in IPL 2025. 🔥
Lhuan dre Pretorius steps in for Nitish Rana, who’s healing from a calf injury. Speedy recovery, Nitish bhai! 💗 pic.twitter.com/B2JzFUlKZo
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 8, 2025
Rana made 217 runs at a strike rate of 161.94 in IPL 2025, with his highest score being 81. Rajasthan have already been eliminated from the play-offs race.
RR’s remaining two matches are against the Chennai Super Kings and the Punjab Kings.
Pretorius will join Rajasthan for his base price of Rs 30 lakh. A powerful southpaw, he was a star of South Africa’s elite school system and became part of the professional structures.
Pretorius spent most of his high school at St Stithians, a production house for professional sportspersons, including Kagiso Rabada, but moved to Pretoria’s Cornwall Hill in his final year, where Aiden Markram studied as well.
By the time Pretorius moved to Cornwall Hill, he was already a Protean U-19 player. He was South Africa’s leading run-scorer at the 2024 U19 World Cup and debuted for the Titans later that summer.
Pretorius was the sixth-highest run-scorer at the CSA T20 Knockout Challenge in the 2023-24 season.
In his latest appearance in the final of the CSA 4-Day Series Division 1 tournament, Pretorius played a match-winning knock of 114 while following on against the Lions and helped his team draw the match. He scored 436 runs in five matches, at a stunning average of 72.66.
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