Finn Allen replaces Josh Philippe for RCB in IPL 2021
Aussie wicket keeper batsman Josh Philippe was declared unavailable for the entire season of IPL 2021 with no clear reasons in picture yet. RCB replaced Philippe with 21 year old New Zealand wicket-keeper batsman Finn Allen who has created waves in NZ cricket already. Allen was recently picked as a back up for Martin Guptill for the T20I series against Australia.
Philippe made his IPL debut for RCB during the UAE edition in 2020 where he scored 78 runs in 5 matches he played. He followed it up with a great BBL season where he scored 508 runs in 16 innings at an average of 31.75 – with 3 half centuries. He then represented Australia in the T20I series against New Zealand.
Meanwhile his replacement Finn Allen had a cruising start to his T20 career. He enmassed 537 runs in just 13 innings with 6 half centuries to his name. He averages 48.81 in the shorter format.
RCB announced the decision to replace Josh Philippe with Finn Allen on twitter!
Allen who entered the IPL 2021 Auction at a base price of 20 Lakh INR, was left untouched at the event. 2 other New Zealand batsmen Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips faced the same fate while they entered the auction at a base price of 50 lakh INR. Since Josh Philippe was bought a base price of 20 lakh INR, RCB couldn’t go for a replacement with a higher base price.
RCB Squad:
Batsmen
Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Sachin Baby, Rajat Patidar
Wicket Keepers
AB de Villiers, Finn Allen, M Azharuddeen, KS Bharat
All Rounders
Pavan Deshpande, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel, Washington Sundar, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian
Bowlers
Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahamad, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kyle Jamieson, S Prabhudesai
My dream team will feature Marcus Trescothick and Anil Kumble
