Rajasthan Royals announce Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas as replacement players

Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday announced the final set of their replacement players. West Indian duo of Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas will be joining the Royals squad as replacement players for the remainder of IPL 2021 to be held in the UAE from 19th September. Lewis, left-handed opening batter from Trinidad and Tobago, will be a replacement for Jos Buttler. Lewis, 29, had made his debut for West Indies during their 2016 World T20 campaign in India, and has 1318 runs to his name in 45 T20Is, at a strike rate of 158. The flamboyant batter has also scored 1847 runs for West Indies in 57 ODIs.

His impressive performances for the national side also led him to being picked up by the Mumbai Indians in 2018, for whom he scored 430 runs in 16 matches across 2018 and 2019 seasons. Meanwhile, Jamaican right-arm pace bowler, Oshane Thomas, who is currently playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League, will be joining as a replacement for Ben Stokes in the Royals’ set-up.

Oshane Thomas, 24, had made his international debut in 2018, having faced India in a bilateral ODI and T20I series. Since then, Thomas, a recipient of West Indies’ Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2019, has picked up 27 wickets in 20 ODIs, and 19 wickets in 17 T20Is. In the IPL, the bowler has represented the Royals in 2019, picking up five wickets in four matches, and was with the franchise during the 2020 season in the UAE as well.

Previous signings

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals announced the signing of South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi, the World No.1 ranked T20I bowler. He will be joining the Royals squad for the remainder of IPL 2021. The left-arm leg spinner from Johannesburg is the second replacement player for the franchise. Earlier, the Royals announced the signing of New Zealand cricketer Glenn Phillips as their first replacement player this season. However, Australian pacer Andrew Tye said he won’t be available for the remaining part of the season.

Shamsi, 31, represents The Titans in South Africa’s domestic cricket. He made his international debut for South Africa during a bilateral T20I series against England in 2017. The left-arm leg spinner has since picked up 45 wickets in 39 T20Is, along with 32 wickets in 27 ODIs for his country. In the IPL, Shamsi has played 4 matches in which he picked up 3 wickets for Royals Challengers Bangalore, who had recruited him as a replacement player during the 2016 season.

Andrew Tye out of the season

Meanwhile, Australian pacer Andrew Tye will not be part of the remaining duration of the season. “It is with great regret that I have to pull out of the remainder of the IPL 2021 with the Rajasthan Royals. It has been a long year for me which has kept me away from home for a lengthy period, and the disappointment of not making it to the World Cup squad has added to the dismay,” added Tye.

“Therefore, keeping my best interests in mind, I had to make this tough decision of staying at home and preparing myself mentally and physically for next year’s T20 World Cup. I am gutted that I won’t be able to rejoin the Royals family this year, but like all the fans out there, I will be cheering the team on.”