Imran Tahir, who was originally snubbed at the IPL auction, has been snapped up by the Rising Pune Supergiants.

The No 1 ODI and T20 bowler in the world was released by the Delhi Daredevils in the build-up to this year’s edition, and somehow went unnoticed at the IPL auction, but the Supergiants have offered him a return to the glittering T20 tournament as a replacement for the injured Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh. He’ll join teammate Faf du Plessis at the franchise.

Marsh, who had to leave Australia’s tour of India midway because of a shoulder injury, is out for close to nine months. His unavailability allowed the Supergiants to pick from the list of unsold players who had registered for the auction.

The 37-year-old found no buyers at the auction in February, despite listing himself at a base price of 50 lakh INR ($76 394 approx). The franchise now has two overseas leg-spinners in their roster – they retained Australian leg-spinner Adam Zampa after an impressive debut season in 2016.

Tahir had picked up 29 wickets in 20 matches for Delhi.

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