Royal Challengers Bangalore have signed New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Finn Allen as a replacement for Australia's Josh Philippe, who, according to a franchise release will be unavailable for the entire season.
IPL 2021
RCB sign Finn Allen after Josh Philippe unavailable for IPL 2021
Allen, 21, meanwhile, has three fifties in his 12 first-class games. © Getty
Philippe had an underwhelming start to his IPL career, making his debut for RCB in 2020. He played five games, scoring just 78 runs. Allen, 21, turned heads in this season's Super Smash, topping the charts with 512 runs at a strike-rate of 194 including 25 sixes for the title-winners Wellington Firebirds.
He has been acquired for a base price of INR 20L, the same as that of Philippe, in what will be his maiden IPL season.
The reason for Philippe's absence, however, is not clear. The wicketkeeper, in the recently concluded T20I series against New Zealand, had two 40-plus scores.
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We regret to inform that Josh Philippe has made himself unavailable for IPL 2021 due to personal reasons. As a result, we have picked an exciting top order batsman in Finn Allen.
