Klaasen replaces Smith at Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals have named South Africa wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen as the replacement for Steve Smith in their squad for the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Smith and David Warner were banned for 12 months each and Cameron Bancroft for nine months for their role in the ball-tampering incident in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Warner has since been replaced at Sunrisers Hyderabad by England opening batsman Alex Hales.

Klaasen, the 26-year-old right-hand batsman, made his one-day international debut against India in February and has played four ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals. He has an impressive T20 strike rate of 146.28 with 1043 runs from 49 matches at an average of 35.96.

Batting in the middle order for South Africa, Klaasen played key knocks in the series against India, scoring 43* in the only ODI South Africa won and 69 in 30 balls in the only T20I they won in what was a disappointing series for the team on the whole.

Klaasen, who had gone unsold at IPL auction earlier this year, has been bought at his base price of Rs 50 lakh (US$ 77,000 approx).

Earlier, soon after news emerged that Smith had been stood down from the fourth Test in South Africa, Rajasthan announced the decision to replace him as captain with Ajinkya Rahane.

Rajasthan start their 2018 IPL campaign against Hyderabad on 9 April.