Rising Pune Supergiants draft in Imran Tahir as replacement for Mitchell Marsh

The Rising Pune Supergiants have roped in the services of South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir for the 2017 edition of the IPL. Tahir comes in as the replacement for the injured Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh. Marsh injured his shoulder during the second Test of the India v Australia Test series recently. The severity of the injury saw him being ruled out of the Test fixture and subsequently from the IPL 2017 as well.

Now, the RPS franchise has been quick in drafting in Imran Tahir on their roster for the upcoming edition. Tahir had last played in the IPL for the Delhi Daredevils, where he had a reasonably good time. However, despite his good showing in the previous edition of the tournament, he went unsold in the IPL Auctions this year.

When he found no takers at the auctions earlier in February this year, a lot of eyebrows were raised. The Rising Pune Supergiants had the choice to pick up a replacement for Marsh from the Registered Available Player Pool list (RAPP List). Tahir was one such name in the list. Interestingly, this is not the first time that Mitchell Marsh has left his IPL side due to an injury.

Back in the 2016 edition of the T20 league, he had to walk out of the tournament midway due to a side strain. Also, back in 2009, he had to bow out of the tournament because of the same reason. For the RPS franchise, they would be hoping to put up a better show in IPL 2017, which kicks off in a couple of weeks time. Last year, two teams had made their IPL debuts – Gujarat Lions and the Rising Pune Supergiants.

While the Lions had an impressive showing as they made it to the playoffs, the RPS side had a lacklustre show as they finished at the penultimate position in the points table. This year, they will play under a new leader in Steve Smith as MS Dhoni, the man who had led them in IPL 2016, was earlier asked to step down from his captaincy post.