Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday named Wayne Parnell and Vyshak Vijay Kumar as replacements for the injured Reece Topley and Rajat Patidar respectively for the remainder of the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023).
Reece Topley managed to register figures of 1/14 from his first two overs for RCB against the Mumbai Indians but after he rolled over to stop a boundary, he was immediately seen clutching onto his shoulder and it seemed like the writing on the wall.
The England left-arm pacer was replaced by his compatriot David Willey in the RCB XI against the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the latter put up an excellent show in what was a dismal outing for the Challengers.
Parnell has so far represented South Africa in 56 T20Is, in addition to 6 Tests and 73 ODIs, and has 59 T20I wickets against his name. The left-arm pacer has played 26 IPL matches and has as IPL many wickets. He joins RCB for Rs 75 Lakh.
Parnell, was last a part of the IPL back in 2014 and on the back of a fantastic SA20 season, the pace-bowling all-rounder will be coming into the RCB squad with form on his side.
Patidar did not feature in RCB’s first game of the season due to a heel injury. He has not recovered yet and is ruled out of the 16th edition of the tournament owing to the same.
Patidar’s replacement Vyashak Vijay Kumar represents Karnataka in domestic cricket and has played 14 T20s, scalping 22 wickets and joins RCB for Rs 20 Lakh.
Vyshak, an exciting right-arm quick from Karnataka, has so far been a part of 31 matches across various formats for the state team since 2021. Across the last two seasons, from 14 matches, Vyshak has managed to claim 22 wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and could be a fine prospect on the bowling front.
He has been a part of 26 T20s in the IPL where he has claimed 26 scalps. In the shortest format of the game, he has been a part of 257 T20s, picking 259 wickets apart from scoring 1887 runs with the willow.
