Blessing Muzarabani will join the Royal Challengers Bengaluru camp as a temporary replacement for Lungi Ngidi. Ngidi will be leaving the IPL by May 26 to prepare for the World Test Championship final.
The final of the WTC will be played between South Africa and Australia at Lord’s from June 11.
Muzarabani has not played any Indian Premier League (IPL) to date, but he was part of the Lucknow Super Giants team in the 2022 season as a net bowler. He is signed by RCB for INR 75 Lakh. He is also in the squad that will play England in a four-day match in Nottingham from May 22.
Ngidi will be available for the next RCB match on May 23 at Bengaluru. However, he will not be available for the last group stage match of RCB in Lucknow on May 27.
RCB is still struggling with the injury of Josh Hazlewood. He is expected to link up with the squad before the start of the playoffs. Hazlewood is also set to feature in the WTC final from June 11.
RCB has already qualified for the playoffs, however, these two games carry a lot of weight as they would want to finish the league stage in the top two. So, they would want to win both games to comfortably finish in the top two.
Muzarabani is a pace bowler from Zimbabwe who has played 12 Tests, 55 ODIs, and 70 T20Is. He also picked 9 wickets in the recently held Test match against Bangladesh and won the Player of the Match award.
Apart from the international credentials, he has also featured in some franchise league cricket in different parts of the world. He has played in the Pakistan Super League, ILT20, and the Caribbean Premier League.
