Rajasthan Royals confirm New Zealand's Glenn Phillips as first replacement player

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) announced the signing of New Zealand cricketer Glenn Phillips as their first replacement player this season. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman from Auckland is currently part of the Barbados Royals franchise in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The IPL this year was postponed initially due to a devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India. The remainder of the tournament will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 this year. Several cricketers, however, will not return for the second half of the competition, thus teams are forced to make replacements before the competition begins again.

Phillips, 24, represents Auckland in New Zealand’s domestic cricket and made his international debut for the Kiwis during a bilateral T20 series against South Africa in 2017 at the young age of 20. He plays at the top of the batting order and has scored 506 runs in 25 international T20 matches in his career so far. He has a very healthy strike rate of 149.70 as well. The youngster has experience playing franchise cricket as he has played in the CPL and the new ‘Hundred’ competition in England.

SEVERAL ABSENTEES FOR RR

The Royals will be short-staffed, especially in the foreigners contingent for the remainder of the IPL. Two of their star players, pacer Jofra Archer and batter Jos Buttler will not be available for the competition. Archer will be out due to an injury and Buttler will welcome his second child into the world. The franchise wished the pacer a speedy recovery and the batter and his wife Louise a happy and healthy second baby.

All-rounder Ben Stokes is also one of the players who will possibly be unavailable for the Royals in the IPL. Stokes has taken an indefinite break from the sport citing mental health reasons. He played only one game for the franchise this season as he suffered a finger injury after the very first game.

Phillips will have big shoes to fill but he has been on a good run of form for a while now. He is only one of the five players to score over 200 runs on aggregate in The Hundred so far. Phillips has also been in very good form in the CPL as well. He scored four centuries in the competition.

FIRST MATCH AGAINST PBKS

The Royals will restart their 2021 IPL from the fifth position on the table. Their first match of the UAE leg of the IPL will be against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on September 21. They have not had a particularly good IPL so far this year. The Royals played seven matches, of which they have managed to win three. They are two points behind fourth-placed Mumbai Indians (MI) currently. The match against PBKS can be a tight encounter as they are level on points with RR in sixth place. Net run rate is what separates the two at the moment.