Rising Pune Supergiant have brought in South African spinner Imran Tahir as a replacement of Australian all-rounder, Mitchell Marsh ahead of the 2017 VIVO Indian Premiere League (IPL). Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of this year’s tournament after he injured his left shoulder during the second Test against India in Bangalore.
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Despite of holding the top bowling spots in both ODIs and T20s in the ICC rankings, Imran Tahir failed to attract any buyer this year’s IPL auction which was held on February. Imran Tahir who was unsold in the 2017 VIVO IPL Player Auction is from the registered available player pool list (RAPP list). As per the player’s regulations, RPS is allowed to pick any player from the RAPP list if a foreign player of their team is ruled out of the competition. Imran who is known for his wicket-taking celebrations too, featured in the last three seasons of IPL, taking 29 wickets.
With the inclusion of Tahir in RPS squad, Tahir will be keen to impress in IPL and help his new team to an impressive season. RPS did a great job during the IPL 2017 auction, signing the most-sought after player — Ben Stokes — for a whopping Rs 14.5 crores, but they still looked short of bowlers. Ashok Dinda, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa, Stokes and Marsh (later injured) were their key bowlers. They were lacking a match-winning bowler, who could win games on their own, but RPS’ bowling line-up looks better now with Tahir’s inclusion.
The cash-rich Indian Premier League will be played from April 5 to May 21.
