Former champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals on Saturday announced bringing in New Zealand cricketer Glenn Phillips as their first change ahead of the second leg of the 2021 edition of the world’s biggest cricket league.
While Phillips is a valuable addition to the Rajasthan Royals side, they were certainly rocked by the absence of Jofra Archer who is missing the entire cricket season this year as well as wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler, who has been one of their most important players in the last two or three seasons.
Rajasthan Royals franchise said in a statement released to the media that the
“24-year-old Phillips represents Auckland in New Zealand’s domestic cricket, and made his international debut for New Zealand during a bilateral T20I series against South Africa in 2017. The top-order batsman has 506 runs to his name in 25 T20Is with a strike rate of 149.70, and has also been involved in various cricket leagues around the world, most recently in The Hundred and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).”
Rajasthan Royals added in the statement that Buttler is most likely missing the second leg of the IPL 2021 due to the birth of his second child.
The second leg of the IPL 2021, which was postponed in the middle of this year earlier to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in India, will be held in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 October 15. The IPL 2021 tournament will be organised just before the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, which will begin about three days after the end of IPL.