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IPL 2016: Rising Pune Supergiants announce George Bailey as replacement for injured Faf du Plessis

George Bailey has played for two IPL franchise so far and this will be the third one in place of Faf du Plessis.

George Bailey has captained Kings XI Punjab in earlier editions of IPL © Getty Images
George Bailey has captained Kings XI Punjab in earlier editions of IPL © Getty Images

MS Dhoni and co. look in trouble in every possible way – first with Kevin Pietersen being ruled out with calf injury followed by Faf du Plessis’s broken finger, Mitchell Marsh’s side strain and the recent one being Steven Smith out due to injury on the wrist. Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) are facing downfall in this season of IPL being a new entrant and with the way batsman are falling off the concerns are increasing further to find replacements. Some respite for RPS at the moment is Australia batsman George Bailey will be joining RPS soon in replacement of du Plessis. This Bailey’s third IPL franchise, who has represented Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the earlier editions. Usman Khawaja has already been called on for Pietersen’s replacement as for Marsh, the replacement will be announced in a day or two. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2016, Match 30 at Bengaluru

Bailey had kept his base price as INR 1 crore, unfortunately he was unable to find any buyers, despite his name being called out twice. Bailey has been the leader for KXIP earlier that could come handy for RPS and chief executive of RPS spoke to espncricinfo, “We lost four crucial players, but we are looking ahead. Bailey has tremendous experience and had a very successful season before last. He can contribute to the leadership group,” Iyer said. In 34 IPL games, Bailey has 579 runs at 25.17, with a strike rate 129.82.

Of all the news of injuries, the biggest blow has been of Smith and after proving his stance for RPS in the top order along with his maiden T20 century, RPS are possibly under danger at the moment. When Pietersen was ruled out of injury due to calf injury, Dhoni considered it a ‘blessing in disguise’ with possible replacement being Albie Morkel or Marsh. Now with Marsh being ruled out as well, RPS might be in trouble to find more options. Iyer further said, “Smith’s news was a bummer. He was just coming into his own and this happened. It is a challenging time. Before we could settle down we lost the core group of players around whom you build a team around.”

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