Melbourne, Apr 16 : The latest big-name to join the Indian Premier League is former Australian batsman Darren Lehmann, but only as a cover for South African captain Graeme Smith.

Lehmann who played 27 Tests and 117 one-day internationals, will play for the Rajasthan Royals, which is being captained by Shane Warne.

Lehmann has been called in, as Smith will be unavailable for the early part of the IPL tournament. Smith will play in South Africa's domestic Twenty20 competition.

According to Cricinfo, Smith will miss the first two games being played by the Rajasthan Royals.

Lehmann retired from first-class cricket last season after a prolific first-class career that yielded 25,795 runs at 57.83.

He played 27 Tests from 1998-2004, scoring 1798 runs at 44.95. He also played in the 1999 and 2003 World Cup, both of which Australia won.

ANI