A host of social media users have compared South African batter Ryan Rickelton and WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes, claiming that they look similar in many ways. With Rickleton joining the Mumbai Indians' camp ahead of IPL 2025, the Proteas cricketer raised a WWE Championship belt of his own, similar to the one that Rhodes holds currently in his stint.
Rickelton will be part of IPL for the first time as he was bought by the five-time champions for a base price of โน1 crore in the auction held last November in Saudi Arabia. In the celip shared by the Mumbai Indians, the keeper-batter was seen playing a WWE video game, with Rhodes as the protagonist. The 28-year-old later flaunted his belt to mark his arrival to the five-time champions' camp ahead of the 18th season.
A few netizens reacted to the video and wrote:
Ryan Rickelton was the fourth-highest run-getter in SA20 2024-25
The Johannesburg-born cricketer, who has played in all three formats for South Africa, had a fruitful season of SA20 where he played for MI Cape Town. The southpaw aggregated 336 runs in eight matches at 48 alongside a strike rate of 178.72 as they beat the SunRisers Eastern Cape in the final to lift the trophy.
Rickelton had also notably scored a hundred against Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy 2025, which was his first-ever match in the tournament history. With his recent performances being an encouraging one, the 28-year-old is likely to open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma.
Mumbai will open their campaign against Chennai Super Kings on March 23 in an away fixture.
