Rajasthan Royals Head of Cricket Zubin Bharucha has said that the team will not miss Steve Smith as a batsman but his "stature as a player" will be missed. Steve Smith was banned from IPL 2018 in the aftermath of the ball tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

Bharucha said that they have a lot many other quality Indian batsmen that can get the job done.

However, according to sports.ndtv.com and ANI, South African wicketkeeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen has replaced Steve Smith in the RR squad for IPL 2018.

“Obviously we miss stature of a player like Smith and the quality he brings but as a team, we are absolutely prepared and we obviously got his replacement as Heinrich Klaasen. So, strategically there has been no change," Bharucha said.

"When we go to auction, we always look for backups. There are certain players like all-rounders, who you don't have many, that person you will miss, but we have dozens of a quality batsman in India. So we will not miss anybody," Bharucha added.

Smith was also named captain of the RR team, but was later replaced by Ajinkya Rahane.

"I just want to say that whatever has to happen happened, Cricket Australia took their decision, ICC they took their decision but it's time to respect Smith as a batsman, as a player and give him that space now," Rahane said.

(With ANI inputs)