RCB sign Finn Allen as a replacement for Josh Philippe

Royal Challengers Bangalore has enrolled New Zealand player Finn Allen as a replacement for wicket-keeper batsman Josh Philippe. Josh Philippe is likely to be unavailable for the entire IPL 2021 season. Finn had a base price of INR 20 lakh, which is equivalent to that of Josh Philippe. It will be Finn's debut in IPL.

Josh Philippe played five games in last year's IPL. The youngster scored 78 runs for RCB. The 21-year-old wicket-keeper batsman recently made headlines with his astonishing performance in the Big Bash League 2020. His unavailability is undoubtedly going to hurt RCB. The reason behind the wicket-keeper's absence from IPL 2021 is still not disclosed. Philippe's replacement Finn Allen has so far played 12 First-class games for New Zealand and scored 3 half-centuries.

Mumbai Indians to face Royal Challengers Bangalore in the tournament opener

The 14th season of the IPL is all set to kick off on April 9. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore will play the opening match of the tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The IPL 2021 will be played across six venues, with Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai & Kolkata set to host the mega event.

Each IPL team is going to play at four venues during the league stage. Out of the 56 matches, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru will host ten games each. Delhi and Ahmedabad are going to conduct eight matches each. One of the season highlights will be that all 56 games will be played at neutral venues. No IPL team will play at their home venue. All eight teams will play at four out of six venues during the league stage.

RCB Full Squad for IPL 2021

Players retained

Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Adam Zampa, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Josh Philippe (Replaced by Finn Allen), and Pavan Deshpande.

Released Players

Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Chris Morris, Pawan Negi, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Parthiv Patel, and Umesh Yadav.

Players Bought

Glenn Maxwell (Rs 14.25 Crore), Kyle Jamieson (Rs 15 Crore), Rajat Patidar (Rs 20 Lakh), Daniel Christian (Rs 4.8 Crore), Sachin Baby (Rs 20 Lakh), Rajat Patidar (Rs 20 Lakh), Sachin Baby (Rs 20 Lakh), Mohammed Azharuddeen (Rs 20 Lakh), Srikar Bharat (Rs 20 Lakh), Suyash Prabhudesai (Rs 20 Lakh).

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