Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have announced the replacement of their fast bowler Reece Topley for the remaining 16th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Topley, the England pacer, was ruled out of IPL 2023 after dislocating his right shoulder during RCB’s opening game of the tournament against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 2. The left-armer bagged 1 for 14 from his two overs on debut, dismissing MI all-rounder Cameron Green, but injured himself while making a diving stop in the field.
Notably, Topley travelled to Kolkata alongside the other players in the RCB squad on Monday with his arm in a sling. Then, ahead of RCB’s fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday, Topley was replaced in the playing XI by his compatriot David Willey.
“Reece, unfortunately, had to go back home because he has been ruled out of the tournament. We tried our best to keep him here, but the treatment and the experts suggest that he is going to be out of action for some time,” said RCB’s head coach Sanjay Bangar in the presser.
The Challengers have now roped in South African paceman Wayne Parnell as the like-to-like replacement of Topley. According to clubcricket.co.za, Parnell has been signed by the RCB for the remainder of the season.
For the unversed, Parnell is a familiar name in the shortest format and carries plenty of experience under his pocket. Having made his international debut in 2009. Parnell has so far played 56 matches in which he has picked up 59 wickets at a strike rate of 18.5 and an economy of 8.29.
The Faf du Plessis-led RCB are currently positioned in 7th place in the team standings. In their second game against KKR at Eden Gardens, the Challengers came up with a disappointing show as they lost the contest by a huge margin of 81 runs which destroyed their net run rate and brought it down to -1.256.
