IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals announces Evin Lewis, Oshane Thomas as replacement players

Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday announced the final set of its replacement players for the remainder of IPL 2021 to be held in the United Arab Emirates starting September 19.

Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas will be joining the Royals’ squad in place of the talismanic English duo of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes respectively.

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Lewis, left-handed opening batter from Trinidad and Tobago had made his debut for West Indies during its 2016 World T20 campaign in India, and has 1318 runs to his name in 45 T20Is, at a strike rate of 158. The flamboyant batter has also scored 1847 runs for West Indies in 57 ODIs. His blistering performances for the national side also led him to being picked up by the Mumbai Indians in 2018, for whom he scored 430 runs in 16 matches across the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Jamaican right-arm pace bowler Thomas, who is currently playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League, made his international debut in 2018, having faced India in a bilateral ODI and T20I series. Since then, Thomas, a recipient of West Indies’ Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2019, has picked up 27 wickets in 20 ODIs, and 19 wickets in 17 T20Is. In the IPL, the fiery bowler has represented the Royals in 2019, picking up five wickets in four matches, and was with the franchise during the 2020 season in the UAE as well.