Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have roped in New Zealand’s Michael Bracewell as replacement player for England batter Will Jacks for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2023). Jacks was ruled out of the tournament a few days ago and now his replacement player has been named as the league starts in two weeks times. Jacks was bought by the franchise for Rs 3.2 Crore. Bracewell come sat a price of Rs 1 crore. The NZ batter has featured in 16 T20Is, scoring 113 runs and has picked up 21 wickets.
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He is the same Bracewell who smashed 140 run off just 78 balls vs India in the first ODI at Hyderabad and single-handely almost won the game for Black Caps. Two months later, the New Zealand all-rounder has been rewarded with an IPL contract for the brutal hitting he pulled off in that match.
What a knock! _
Michael Bracewell walks in at 110/5 and slams a brilliant hundred _#INDvNZ | _: https://t.co/raJtMjMaEn pic.twitter.com/qTXhAe9j2V
— ICC (@ICC) January 18, 2023
The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League will start on March 31 in Ahmedabad with defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) taking on four-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening game at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. RCB play their first game vs Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 1 at home, M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru.
RCB, despite fielding a starry team season after season, have not won a single IPL title. Virat Kohli led the franchise from IPL 2013 to 2021 but failed to win the trophy for the Men in Red and Black. Last year, ahead of IPL 2022, RCB announced Faf du Plessis as captain and the team managed to reach the playoffs. But could not go further into the tournament. This year, they will reboot and restart, aiming for the elusive IPL title.
The Bengaluru-based franchise will heavily rely on the likes of Kohli, Faf, Dinesh Karthik, Glenn Maxwell and Reece Topley. Bracewell is a great addition. He is a right-arm off break bowler who can smash boundaries late in the batting order.
