Rajasthan Royals replace Smith with Klaasen

Rajasthan Royals have announced South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen as the replacement for their banned skipper Steve Smith, BCCI confirmed on Monday.

Smith, who admitted to pre-meditated ball tampering in the Cape Town Test against South Africa, was handed a 12-month ban by Cricket Australia and subsequently, BCCI barred him from participating in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Royals then announced Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for IPL 2018.

Klaasen, who made his international debut against India earlier in the home season, showed his clean-hitting abilities against spin in the four ODIs and three T20Is he played - a reason Royals' Head of Cricket Zubin Bharucha singled out as the deciding factor in picking the South African wicketkeeper-batsman over others.

"Klaasen is an amazing player of spin. And he has a vast array of shots, which tempted us to go for him. He plays the reverse sweep very well, something that will be quite useful in the IPL," Bharucha told The Times of India, admitting that the way Klaasen handled Indian spinners Yuzuvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav tilted the scales in his favour.

Incidentally, Klaasen wasn't originally picked for the limited-over series against India but came in as a replacement for regular 'keeper Quinton de Kock, who picked up a wrist injury.

Klassen hogged limelight with a whirlwind 69 off just 30 deliveries, in his second T20I for South Africa, helping the hosts level the three-match series by overhauling the 198-run target in under 19 overs. Klaasen was adjudged Player of the Match for his heroics with the bat.

In his 49-match T20 career, Klaasen has 1043 runs at an average of 35.96 and a strike rate just above 146. Given the presence of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler amongst Royals' squad, it is likely that Klaasen will feature in the line-up as a pure batsman.

Source: Cricbuzz