Rajasthan Royals Star Impresses With Unbeaten 98, Expected To Play Key Role in IPL 2026 After Sanju Samson’s Departure

Rajasthan Royals batter Lhuan-dre Pretorius shines with the bat in SA20 2025–26 for Paarl Royals against MI Cape Town at Boland Park, Paarl.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius bats through the innings to keep Paarl Royals in control

In the match, during the first innings, Lhuan dre Pretorius opened the batting alongside Asa Tribe for Paarl Royals. The duo added 100 runs for the opening partnership before Asa Tribe was dismissed. After that, Pretorius built small partnerships with David Miller, Sikandar Raza, and Delano Potgieter.

The Rajasthan Royals batter remained unbeaten on 98 off 65 balls, which included 10 fours and two sixes, at a strike rate of 150.77. After the opening stand, Paarl Royals lost a few more wickets, but Pretorius carried the innings from one end. Paarl Royals posted 181/3 in 20 overs. After two low scores in the first few matches, Pretorius is back in form.

In reply, MI Cape Town were restricted to 180/8 in 20 overs, and Paarl Royals won the match by just one run. Ryan Rickelton scored 36, Rassie van der Dussen made 59, and Rashid Khan added 35. For Paarl Royals, Ottneil Baartman took four wickets, while Sikandar Raza picked up three. With this win, Paarl Royals are currently third on the points table with two wins and one loss from three matches. They have eight points with a net run rate of -2.215.

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Lhuan-dre Pretorius to play key role for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026

Speaking about Lhuan dre Pretorius, he is expected to play an important role in the upcoming IPL 2026 season for Rajasthan Royals. In the previous season, he joined the team as a replacement for Nitish Rana for INR 30 lakhs. Even though he played only one match and did not get a chance to bat, he was still retained by the franchise for the upcoming IPL 2026 season.

With Sanju Samson joining Chennai Super Kings, Dhruv Jurel is likely to keep the wickets, and Pretorius could be a good option for the No.3 spot and if needed can also keep wickets. With Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi as openers, adding Pretorius to the top order will make the team stronger and more exciting, as all three batters like to play aggressively. Before SA20, he played one match for the Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge 2025/26, where he scored 55 runs.

The South African wicketkeeper batter was dropped from the squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, but he is still only 19 years old and will have many opportunities in the future.

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