The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has roped in New Zealand cricketer Tim Seifert as the replacement for Englander Jacob Bethell, who will be not available for the IPL 2025 playoffs due to national commitments.

The replacement will be effective from May 24, said the BCCI in a statement. Tim Seiferth who scored 1540 runs in 66 T20s for the Blackcaps, has played only three games in the IPL previously in the 2022 season.

He will be joining the side for INR 2 crore. “Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have signed Tim Seifert as Jacob Bethell is set to leave from TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for England on May 24, 2025 – following RCB’s league-stage game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 23, 2025 – to join the England team,” the statement added.

Seiferth’s signing comes after Jacob Bethell’s unavailability as he named in the England squad for the home tour against West Indies.

He is set to leave for England after Friday’s fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which was moved from Bengaluru to Lucknow owing to adverse weather conditions in South India.

Jacob Bethell has so far featured in two matches for RCB in his maiden IPL season. Replacing Salt in the lineup, Jacob Bethell smashed a 33-ball 55 in his previous innings against Chennai Super Kings on May 03.

Apart from Bethell, RCB are uncertain over the availability of Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood who is currently in Brisbane at CA’s high performance centre in Preparation for next month’s World Test Championship final.

RCB director Mo Bobat said they’s been in touch with CA over Hazlewood, but that they were adopting a wait and watch approach as he recovers from a shoulder niggle that he picked up ahead of RCB’s fixture against CSK.

Meanwhile, South African pacer Lungi Ngidi will miss the playoffs for RCB as he named in the South Africa squad for the WTC finals. Last week, Ngidi was replaced by Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani as a short term replacement.

RCB have secured a spot in the playoffs with eight wins out of 11 games and will be aiming for the top two spot in the IPL 2025 points table.

Their next match will be against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 23 at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.