Saurabh Tiwary, Albie Morkel join Rising Pune Supergiants for 2016 IPL

The Rising Pune Supergiants franchise on Thursday acquired the services of Delhi Daredevils' batsman Saurabh Tiwary and all-rounder Albie Morkel for the 2016 Indian Premier League.

The tournament begins on April 9 and stretches till May 29.

Rising Pune Supergiants CEO, Raghu Iyer said in a statement on Thursday: "We are pleased to have Saurabh Tiwary and Albie Morkel for the upcoming season. They both are proven performers in the Indian Premier League and will strengthen our team."

The IPL chairman, Rajeev Shukla, said: "The Rising Pune Supergiants have added more firepower to their batting line up by acquiring the services of all-rounder Albie Morkel and specialist batsman Saurabh Tiwary. Both players who represented the Delhi Daredevils in the previous edition, will now play for the Pune franchise."

"The Rising Pune Supergiants had a brilliant IPL Player Auction. Adding some big names like Kevin Pietersen and Mitchell Marsh to the squad after having signed Indian ODI and T20I captain MS Dhoni, R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane in the IPL Player Draft earlier this year," he added.

Delhi Daredevils CEO, Hemant Dua said: "Both Saurabh and Albie have served the Daredevils very well and we would like to thank and wish them the very best for the coming season."