Rising Pune Supergiants have signed George Bailey as a replacement for injured Faf du Plessis, who was ruled out of the tournament due to a finger injury.
This will be Bailey’s third IPL franchise, having represented Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab in the previous editions. The Australian, however, had no takers in this edition’s auction, despite his name coming up twice. He was listed at a base price of Rs. 1 crore.
Things have worsened for the Pune-based new franchise in the last few weeks as apart from their losing streak, they are also battling a series of injury woes. Before du Plessis, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen tore his calf and headed back home. Australian allrounder Mitchell Marsh suffered a side strain and went back home and on Monday, Cricket Australia’s medical team announced that Steven Smith has picked a wrist injury and needed to return home.
According to a report in ESPN Cricinfo, Raghu Iyer, Chief Executive at Supergiants said:
Smith’s [news] been a bummer. He was just coming into his own and this happened. It is a challenging time. Before we could settle down we lost the core group of players around whom you build a team around. We lost four crucial players, but we are looking ahead. Bailey has tremendous experience and had a very successful season before last. He can contribute to the leadership group.Raghu Iyer, CEO, Rising Pune Super Giants
He also said that the team is likely to announce Marsh’s replacement in the next two days.
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