Bengaluru, April 7: Liam Plunkett, the England fast bowler, has been signed by the Delhi Daredevils as a replacement for the injured South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for the Indian Premier League (IPL), 2018.
Plunkett has featured in 13 Tests, 65 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 15 T20 Internationals for England so far.
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This will be Plunkett's first stint in the IPL. He was picked from the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) list.
Delhi Daredevils open their IPL 2018 campaign with a game against the Kings XI Punjab at Mohali on Sunday (April 8.)
We are glad to announce that @Liam628 will be joining the #DDSquad as a replacement for the injured @KagisoRabada25.
— Delhi Daredevils (@DelhiDaredevils) April 7, 2018
He has loads of experience and hits the deck hard. Can't wait for him to join the lads soon!#DilDilli #Dhadkega pic.twitter.com/Cxppzpm2hz
Rabada will miss this year's IPL owing to a lower back stress fracture and it has come a huge blow for Delhi Daredevils. Raba will miss the action up to three months.
South Africa team manager Dr Mohammed Moosajee said: "Kagiso Rabada has been diagnosed with a lower back stress reaction which will rule him out of cricket action for up to three months. He will need a month's break from all physical activity before commencing with a rehabilitation programme to get him ready for the series against Sri Lanka in July.
"Rabada will be unavailable for the Delhi Daredevils for the upcoming IPL."
Rabada was adjudged the man of the series in the recently concluded Test series against Australia. He had taken 23 wickets from four Tests at a stunning 19.26.
However, there was no real rest for him as he played all the 10 Tests during South Africa's home summer along with eight out of nine ODIs.
In fact, he had complained of a stiff back and lower back pain during the final morning of the fourth Test against Australia at Johannesburg and had bowled just three overs.
Rabad had also admitted to the need of managing his workload better to stay fit and to avoid missing matches in future.
"It's something I have to think about and plan moving forward...how to have some time off. It is very important because you ultimately want to play for 10 to 15 years and you have got to have some sort of plan. You cannot just drift through it," he said.