Fast bowler Shardul Thakur has completed a move to Rising Pune Supergiant ahead of the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL).

Thakur was previously part of the Kings XI Punjab squad, featuring in just one match over two seasons.

The 25-year-old has been one of the most impressive bowlers in the Ranji Trophy over the last number of seasons but hasn’t had the opportunity to make his mark in the IPL so far.

Thakur is the second player that RPS have acquired from another franchise ahead of the upcoming season. Earlier, they secured the services of attacking batsman Mayank Agarwal from the Delhi Daredevils.

The Pune-based franchise finished seventh last season and will be hoping for an improved performance this time around. They have already changed their captain, with Australia’s Steve Smith replacing former India skipper MS Dhoni.

The 2017 edition will begin on April 5.

RPS SQUAD

MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Steve Smith, Faf du Plessis, Mitchell Marsh, Ashok Dinda, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia, Ankit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Adam Zampa, Jaskaran Singh, Baba Aparajith, Deepak Chahar, Usman Khawaja, Mayank Agarwal, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Dan Christian, Milind Tandon, Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary, Lockie Ferguson, Shardul Thakur.

The squads for all eight franchises can be found here.