Nandre Burger

- Left-arm quick Nandre Burger was picked by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for IPL 2024 at INR 50 lakhs. He got seven wickets in six games that season.

- Next year, RR brought him back as an injury replacement for Sandeep Sharma

- While he didn't play a game in IPL 2025, RR decided to retain him.

An accidental cricketer, who had ambitions of playing on the ATP tour and then becoming a psychologist, Nandre Burger is an all-format left-arm quick, who swings the ball at pace.

Burger was raised on Johannesburg's West Rand and attended Monument High School, known for its regular production of international rugby players. While he dabbled in rugby, racquet sports were his passion and he was among the top provincial age-group players in tennis and squash but a persistent back injury forced him to give them both up. He concentrated on cricket and used it to earn a scholarship to the University of Witwatersrand, where his priority was his studies. Burger was a net bowler for the province's franchise team, the Lions, and made his debut in the 2015-16 season, for the amateur team. Two summers later, he was the leading wicket-taker in the Africa T20 Cup and then offered a contract at Western Province, which saw him abandon his degree in Johannesburg for the life of a sporting professional in Cape Town.

Two years into his move, he sustained a lower back stress fracture which kept him out of action for almost a year but he came back strongly. He made his international debuts in all three formats in the space of 12 days in December 2023, first in a T20I, then an ODI and then a Test, all against India and went on to have a spectacular domestic summer. He was the top bowler in the CSA one-day challenge, was signed by Rajasthan Royals for the 2024 IPL and was named as a reserve player in South Africa's 2024 T20 World squad. He also played for the Seattle Orcas in the MLC in 2024.