Sherfane Rutherford of the West Indies has been signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the remainder of the IPL 2021 season. The West Indian middle-order batsman replaces opener Jonny Bairstow, who, along with three other England players, withdrew out of the T20 tournament earlier today.
Rutherford, a hard-hitting batsman who rose to prominence in the Global T20 competition, has only played in one IPL season. In 2019, he played for the Mumbai Indians and only scored 73 runs in seven games.
Rutherford, 23, is presently playing in the Caribbean Premier League for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, where he is having a successful season. In seven games, he has 202 runs, including three fifty-run innings.
Rutherford made his debut for the West Indies in a Twenty20 International against Bangladesh in 2018. The 23-year-old has appeared in six T20Is for his country, scoring 43 runs and taking one wicket. Though he is fresh to the national team, he has played in T20 competitions all over the world.
He’s appeared in 43 T20 games, scoring 624 runs and taking eight wickets. It remains to be seen how he will fare in the UAE leg of the IPL, which will be captained by world-class skipper Kane Williamson. In the 2018 edition of the IPL, he got signed by Delhi Capitals for the first time.
Dawid Malan, who was scheduled to play for PBKS in the UAE leg of the T20 league, has also withdrawn from the competition, and Aiden Markram of South Africa has been named as his replacement. Chris Woakes, who was also scheduled to play for SRH, has withdrawn from the season. The decision was made a day after the last Test between England and India was called off owing to COVID-19 concerns in the visiting camp. Only Moeen Ali, who will also return for the Ashes, is leaving the UK for the second part of the IPL 2021.