Rajasthan Royals sign World No. 1 T20 bowler Tabraiz Shamsi as Andrew Tye's replacement

After a poor start to the Indian leg of the IPL 2021, Rajasthan Royals will be looking to turn things around in the second phase which will be played in the UAE. The first phase of the tournament witnessed the Royals struggling to find combinations for their playing 11 after some of the overseas stars were either hit by injuries or they withdrew from the tournament. While Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer were unavailable due to injury, Liam Livingstone has left the team squad and returned home citing 'Bio-Bubble' fatigue. Andrew Tye had also pulled out of the remainder of the season.

The Royals were hit with yet another blow recently with Jos Buttler withdrawing from the IPL phase 2 due to personal reasons. The inaugural champion though ensured they had the bases covered for the IPL phase 2 -- first by bringing in Glen Philips to replace Jos Buttler and now signing World no 1 T20 bowler, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Rajasthan Royals sign Tabraiz Shamsi for IPL Phase 2

The Royals on Thursday announced the signing of Tabraiz Shamsi for IPL phase 2 remaining matches. The world's No.1 T20 bowler, will join Rajasthan Royals second replacement for the remainder of IPL 2021.  He will join a strong wrist-spin contingent in the Royals squad that includes legspinners Shreyas Gopal, Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia, alongside Riyan Parag.  This will be the second stint for the South African cricketer in the IPL. 

Earlier, Shamsi had played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2016, as a replacement player, and in that season he had taken three wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 9.18. Overall, Shamsi has played 163 T20 games, taking 183 wickets at an average of 22.42 and an economy rate of 7.18. The left arm wrist spinner recently played in The Hundred, where  he took seven wickets in six matches for Oval Invincibles, at an economy rate of 8.71

Remaining overseas slot for Rajasthan Royals 

After signing Shamsi and Phillips, Rajasthan Royals' overseas roster will have David Miller, Chris Morris, Liam Livingstone and Mustafizur Rahman. According to ESPNcricinfo South African quick pacer, Gerald Coetzee, who replaced Livingstone for the first half of the tournament, will no longer be part of the team with the explosive England batsman expected to be available for the second half making it six overseas players. If Stokes does makes his returns, then the team will be left with just one more overseas spot and else they have two spots to fill in case Stokes back out.