Rajasthan Royals announce SA20 leading scorer Lhuan-dre Pretorius as replacement for injured Nitish Rana
Rajasthan Royals have announced a replacement for Nitish Rana, who becomes the latest in a long list of names to be sidelined from IPL 2025 through injury. RR are onboarding dashing South African wicketkeeper-batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius, with the 19-year-old South African joining RR for the remainder of the IPL campaign.
Pretorius broke through with a 397-run season in the SA20 2025, a tally which saw him finish as the leading run-scorer in the tournament. Pretorius represented Paarl Royals, Rajasthan's affiliated team in South Africa, and scored a sparkling 97* in his debut match for the franchise.. His runs came at a strike-rate of 166, helping Paarl reach the playoffs in this edition of the tournament.
At 19 years old, Pretorius is considered one of the players to watch coming through the South African youth ranks. With a slightly unorthodox back lift and swing that is somewhat reminiscent of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Pretorius joins Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal in RR's cohort of talented young left-handed openers. Whether he maintains that role in the IPL or is used lower down the order remains to be seen.
Along with his impressive performances to finish top of run-scoring charts in SA20, Pretorius also had an impressive performance in the 2024 U-19 ODI World Cup at home, where he finished as South Africa's leading run-scorer and one of the highest scorers in the tournament. Pretorius amassed 287 runs at an average of 57.40 as his team reached the semifinals.
Rana missed RR's narrow loss against KKR due to an injury, which will keep him out of the end of RR's season. Along with Rana, pace-bowler Sandeep Sharma also misses the remainder of the IPL season with a broken finger. Another Protea comes in to replace Sharma, with Nandre Burger joining the Royals once again after a brief stint in 2024.
RR are already eliminated from contention in IPL 2025, planning forward to next year beginning with replacement players being onboarded early. Pretorius joins fellow young South African Dewald Brevis as another Protea up-and-coming star who signs on as a replacement player in the IPL, and likely to be persisted with heading into IPL 2026.
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