Gujarat Titans rope in South African star as injury replacement ahead of KKR clash in IPL 2026

The Gujarat Titans (GT) didn’t make a strong start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign with two successive defeats against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and the Punjab Kings in Chandigarh. But since then, they have gotten back on track with consecutive victories. 

The Shubman Gill-led side has been fantastic with their bowling performance, which has helped them to get the wins over the Delhi Capitals and the Lucknow Super Giants. Now, they head back home for their fifth encounter against the struggling Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

GT make last-minute squad change before crucial encounter

The Titans have faced a last-minute challenge to make changes to their squad. Their wicket-keeper batter, Tom Banton, whom they signed for the base price as a potential replacement for Jos Buttler, has been ruled out of the event due to injury.  

This has led the franchises to sign the South African wicket-keeper batter, Connor Esterhuizen, as the replacement of Banton, who picked up a finger injury. Connor made an impressive start with two Player of the Match awards and made his international debut against New Zealand in the five-match T20I series last month.

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This will be the first experience of the IPL for the Protea batter, who joins the 2022 winner at a base price of INR 75 lakh.

Who is the South African player signed as replacement

Esterhuizen enjoyed the breakout debut series, when he smashed 200 runs at an average of 50 and a strike rate of nearly 145.98, with the help of two half-centuries. Along with the Player of the Match awards, he also earned the Player of the Series award.

Gujarat is currently in sixth position of the points table with two victories in four encounters at a net run rate of -0.029. They will have a few tough fixtures in the next few weeks against the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), along with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Big boost for Gujarat Titans ahead of KKR showdown

It has been a massive boost for the runners-up of the 2023 edition ahead of the KKR showdown. Buttler has been impressive as their leading run-getter of the season with 176 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 158.55 with two half-centuries, while Gill has collected 165 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 147.32.

Prasidh Krishna is the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing campaign with 10 wickets in four innings at an average of 15.20 and an economy rate of 9.50, including one four-wicket haul, thanks to the best figures of 4/28 in an innings.