Australia batsman Usman Khawaja is likely to replace injured Kevin Pietersen in the squad of Rising Pune Supergiants in season 9 of Indian Premier League.
Pietersen was ruled out of the IPL on Sunday, leaving the subcontinent with a hole in his calf muscle and in Pune's batting order.
If picked, this will be Khawaja’s maiden IPL stint. The left-handed top-order batsman had gone unsold at IPL auctions in February despite scoring heavily in Australia’s domestic circuit.
Pune have not named a replacement for KP, but Khawaja is the one of the frontrunners, according to Supergiants coach Stephen Fleming.
"He (Khawaja) is a guy we are surely looking at," Fleming said after the two-wicket loss to Kolkata on Sunday.
"There is a shortlist we are working through so looking at availability and Visas and the likes, but he is certainly a guy we are interested in."
Khawaja will be joining his Australian teammates Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Adam Zampa, Peter Handscomb and Scott Boland at the Supergiants.
Khawaja was in imperious form for the Sydney Thunder in their triumphant KFC Big Bash League season last summer.
Opening the batting, the left-hander posted scores of 109no, 62, 104no and 70 in his four matches to average an incredible 172.5 for the tournament.
His stunning run in all formats of the game forced his selection in Australia's World T20 squad. Khawaja opened in every match and finished the campaign as Australia's leading run-scorer, averaging 35.75 with a top score of 58.
