Rajasthan Royals announce Ish Sodhi as replacement for Zahir Khan

Rajasthan Royals have announced New Zealand bowler, Ish Sodhi, as the replacement for their injured spinner, Zahir Khan. The Afghanistan bowler has been ruled out of the tournament and will not be able to contest in cricket for the next few months.

Sodhi, who went unsold in the IPL auction earlier this year, will now get the opportunity to represent a franchise in the tournament. He has played 92 matches in the shortest format of the game and has picked up 102 wickets at a bowling average of 23.09

His economy in T20 cricket is 7.66, which is excellent for this batting-oriented format of the game. He is also a pretty handy batsman to have in the lower order, with the highest score of 51.

Sodhi will fly to India soon to don the blue jersey of the Royals. However, with the likes of D'Arcy Short, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, and Ben Laughlin already in the RR squad, it might be tough for Ajinkya Rahane to incorporate Sodhi into his playing XI.

Rajasthan Royals got off to a tepid start in the tournament and were unable to get the better of the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday (April 9). Sodhi's presence will bolster their spin-bowling unit, which has the likes of K Gowtham and Shreyas Gopal in it but lacked in terms of international experience before.