IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals rope in Windies duo of Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas

New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday roped in West Indian duo of Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas as replacement players for the remainder of IPL to be held in the UAE from 19 September. While Lewis will be a replacement for England wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler, Thomas came in place of England all-rounder Ben Stokes in the squad. “IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals today announced the final set of their replacement players. West Indian duo of Evin Lewis and Oshane Thomas will be joining the Royals squad as replacement players for the remainder of IPL..,” the franchise said in a release. [caption id=“attachment_8457981” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of Oshane Thomas. Twitter @ICC[/caption] Lewis, 29, made his debut for West Indies during their 2016 World T20 campaign in India, and has 1318 runs to his name in 45 T20Is, at a strike rate of 158. He also scored 1847 runs for West Indies in 57 ODIs. His blistering performances for the national side also led him to being picked up by the Mumbai Indians in 2018, for whom he scored 430 runs in 16 matches across 2018 and 2019 seasons. Fast bowler Thomas, who is currently playing for the Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League, made his international debut in 2018, having faced India in a bilateral ODI and T20I series. Since then, Thomas, a recipient of West Indies’ Emerging Player of the Year Award in 2019, has picked up 27 wickets in 20 ODIs, and 19 wickets in 17 T20Is. In the IPL, the fiery bowler has represented the Royals in 2019, picking up five wickets in four matches, and was with the franchise during the 2020 season in the UAE as well.