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Kagiso Rabada (Source - Twitter)
Punjab Kings are standing at no.2 in the Indian Premier League 2023 points table after winning back-to-back matches. PBKS have performed exceptionally well even in the absence of their two main overseas players, Kagiso Rabada and Livingstone. They first defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 runs and continued their winning run against Rajasthan Royals as well.
Meanwhile, the star South African bowler, Rabada, is now available to be included in the playing XI after completing his national duties. But it'd be interesting to see who will he be replacing as Nathan Ellis displayed a brilliant bowling performance against RR. However, he might be replacing Sikandar Raza, as the Zimbabwe allrounder wasn't effective in the first two games.
Rabada, recently, participated in the ODI series against the Netherlands and, very recently, arrived in India. When the team play Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9, the South African speedster will be available for selection. With 23 wickets in just 13 games last year, Rabada was Punjab's premier bowler.
Liam Livingstone will also be available soon for PBKS
Talking about England's star allrounder, at the IPL 2022 Auctions, PBKS lavished Rs 11.5 crore on him. He scored 437 runs at a mind-boggling strike rate of 182.08 to rank second in terms of most runs scored by any player in the team.
Only Dinesh Karthik had a higher strike rate among players, who scored more than 100 runs during the season. He contributed six wickets as well. The 29-year-old, recently, hinted that he will be back for the franchise in the next two days.
“Hopefully over the next couple of days, I’ll get the clearance to head out there. I’m really looking forward to getting back out, getting back playing, and hopefully over the next 48 hours or so I’ll finally get that," Livingstone was quoted as saying by news18.
The England Cricket Board also shared a statement regarding this, which says,
“Liam Livingstone will arrive in India in mid-April within the next couple of weeks. As for the Ireland Test, any player selected in that squad will return ahead of practice around 28/29 May,” said an ECB statement.
Here's how fans reacted:
Rabada, Arshdeep, Curran, Ellis = 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
— Babul Yadav (@BABULKU74795114) April 7, 2023
bench already feeling warmer
— Karan (@karanpb10) April 7, 2023
Kagiso रबदा बंदा हैं
— ً (@SarcasticCowboy) April 7, 2023
Punjab has the weakest team on paper but they are doing exceedingly well. Rabada will bolster it
— Harpreet Singh (@Harpreetlaw) April 7, 2023
No one cares about Finished team
— 175* (@175of228) April 7, 2023
— Mrityunjay Soni (@MrityunjayCE) April 7, 2023
Gill already Shreving 🥵
— ＳＷＡＴＩ• #Yellove (@mipultan) April 7, 2023
Arshadeep,Rabada,Sam Curran,Ellis 🔥🔥🔥
— Don Pablo (@DonPablo_bb) April 7, 2023
Ellis will have to sit out unfortunately because you can't keep Rabada out. But they should not do it immediately. Only make the change if things go wrong with Elis. Last time they brought in Bairstow instead of Rajapaksa when he was in flow.
— Chup Bey! (@stud88282483) April 7, 2023