Pretorius was the leading run-getter at SA20 2025 with a tally of 397 at a strike rate of 166.80

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2025Rajasthan Royals (RR) have signed Lhuan-dre Pretorius as a replacement for Nitish Rana, who has been sidelined from the rest of IPL 2025 with injury. The South African will join RR for INR 30 lakh.In another signing, RR have brought in Nandre Burger for the injured Sandeep Sharma. Burger, who was with RR last season as well, comes in for INR 3.5 crore.* Sandeep had hurt his finger while attempting to stop a shot from Shubman Gill off his own bowling against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur. In ten games this season, Sandeep picked up nine wickets at an economy rate of 9.89.Pretorius, 19, is a powerful left-hand opening batter and wicketkeeper. He is yet to make his international debut but finished as the leading run-scorer at SA20 2025 with 397 runs at a strike rate of 166.80 in 12 matches. His 51-ball 97 for Paarl Royals against Sunrisers Eastern Cape was one of the best knocks of the season. After his stint at the SA20, he was signed up by Hampshire for Vitality Blast for his first county stint.Last year, he was South Africa’s highest run-getter at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup.As far as Rana is concerned, he had two noteworthy performances for RR this season. He scored a 36-ball 81 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Guwahati and 51 off 28 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Delhi. RR have been knocked out of the tournament along with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and CSK. They have won only three out of 12 matches in 2025 and remain ninth in the ten-team tournament.Their remaining matches are against CSK in Chennai on May 12 and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Jaipur on May 16.