The Warriors will be Taylor’s fourth IPL team

In a rather shocking move, the Delhi Daredevils have sent New Zealand big-hitter Ross Taylor to the Pune Warriors in exchange for veteran Indian pace bowler Ashish Nehra.

Heading into the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, the Warriors already had eight overseas players on their roster and during the auction, they bought three more international players, Michael Clarke, Ajantha Mendis and Kane Richardson.

With a maximum of 11 foreign players in the squad, the Warriors decided to release South African seamer Alfonso Thomas in order to sign Taylor.

The Daredevils acquired Taylor for an undisclosed fee from the Rajasthan Royals in February 2012.

The Warriors will be Taylor’s fourth IPL team after he spent the first three editions of the tournament with the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Sushanto Roy, who is the managing director of Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd, which is the company that owns the Warriors, stated that Taylor’s presence will seriously bolster the franchise’s batting line-up.

“We are elated to have a batsman like Ross Taylor in our ranks,” Roy said. “He will add muscle, panache and of course, experience, to our middle order in the forthcoming season.”

Meanwhile, this will be Nehra’s second spell with the Daredevils after he was a starter for the franchise during the 2009 and 2010 edition of the tournament.

In fact, Nehra’s best IPL season came in 2009, when the tournament was held in South Africa, where he took 19 wickets in 13 matches.

Nehra was bought by the Warriors for $850,000 during the 2011 IPL player auction, but was unable to represent the team in any matches that year due to a finger injury he sustained during the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup semi-final against Pakistan.

In last year’s IPL, Nehra made a excellent comeback, taking 11 wickets in 13 games at an average of 36.54.

“Ashish Nehra will constitute an integral part of our bowling attack in the 2013 season,” Delhi Daredevils head of cricket TA Sekar said. “We were the best team at the league stage in 2012, and with a player like him around, we are confident that we will go the distance.”