Rajasthan Royals Sign SA's Lhuan-dre Pretorius to Replace Injured Nitish Rana
Rajasthan Royals have brought in 19-year-old South African player Lhuan-dre Pretorius in place of injured Nitish Rana. Pretorius has been a standout performer in the SA20 League and is part of South Africa's U-19 team. Rana has had an impressive IPL career with Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Nitish Rana, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025, has been ruled out of the tournament due to injury. Now in place of Nitish, Rajasthan has announced a new player who will replace him. The Rajasthan Royals team has already been out of the playoff race and they still have to play 2 more matches in the league stage.
"Rajasthan Royals have named Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been ruled out of the remaining matches of IPL 2025 due to injury," the IPL said in an official statement. "
Lhuan-dre Pretorius is a 19-year-old South African player who was bought by Rajasthan at his base price of ₹30 lakh. Luan-Dre Pretorius is part of South Africa's Under-19 team. He has played 33 T20 matches so far and has scored 911 runs. His best score is 97.
Pretorius is an important player for the Titans in domestic cricket. He plays for Paarl Royals in the SA20 League . In the latest season of SA20, he topped the list of highest run-scorers, scoring 397 runs in 12 matches with an impressive strike rate of 166.81.
Talking about Nitish Rana's IPL career, he made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2016. He played a key role for the Mumbai team that won the IPL title in 2017. He scored 333 runs in 13 matches that season. In 2018, Nitish joined the Kolkata Knight Riders team and proved to be the team's best player in the next six years. After winning the IPL trophy with KKR in 2024, Nitish joined Rajasthan Royals in 2025 for ₹4.20 crore. Nitish has scored 2853 runs in 118 matches in IPL so far. He has scored 20 half-centuries and his best score is 87 runs.