After Australia imposed a one-year ban on both Steve Smith and David Warner, BCCI barred both of them from participating in the Indian Premier League. Although both have been replaced as captains in their respective sides, their unfilled spots in the squad were yet to be filled.

Ajinkya Rahane was announced as the captain of Rajasthan Royals [RR] following the suspension of Smith. And now the Aussie batsman is going to be replaced by Heinrich Klaasen in the team. The way the Proteas batsman countered Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling impressed the Rajasthan-based franchise as they were looking for someone of Smith caliber against spin.

“Our aim was to get someone who can play spin well because we are pretty sure that spinners will have a big role to play during the IPL,” said Zubin Bharucha, RR’s head of cricket.

“Klaasen is an amazing player of spin. And he has a vast array of shots, which tempted us to go for him. He plays the reverse sweep very well, something that will be quite useful in the IPL. His strategy against them was just amazing,” Bharucha remarked.

Bharucha explained why he chose Klassen's ahead of anybody else. He further mentioned that when Klaasen was approached, he immediately agreed to play for the first-ever winners of the IPL.

“Smith will be back with us next year and we did not want to end up with two similar players. Our idea was to build the team keeping three years in mind. Even after Smith is back, Klaasen will be very useful for us.”