IPL 2018: Rajasthan Royals squad analysis
Back in the Indian Premier League after two years, the Rajasthan Royals grabbed a lot of attention at this year’s auction.
The Royals went on to buy England all-rounder Ben Stokes for a whopping 12.5 crores, making him the costliest player at the auctions. Last season, Stokes made 316 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate close to 143, including a century.
The Jaipur-based franchise did not stop their extravagant buys at that- they went on to bag Jaydev Unadkat for Rs.11.5 crores, making him the most expensive Indian player at the auctions.
Unadkat has looked really well in the previous editions of the league and was quite impressive last season picking up 21 wickets at an average of just 13.41.
The franchise retained the services of Australian skipper Steven Smith who will also lead the side in this season.
At the auction pool, the team managed to bag some players who had played for the franchise before and had been consistent performers for them.
Sanju Samson (386 runs at a strike rate of 141.39 in IPL 2017), Dhawal Kulkarni (75 wickets in 72 matches) and Ajinkya Rahane are a few players who have represented the franchise in the past and are all set to play for them in the upcoming season.
Four of their core players- Smith, Rahane, Unadkat and Stokes played for the Pune franchise last season which reached the finals.
Smith will try and lead the inaugural champions to yet another IPL title, 10 years after their only triumph at the tournament.
The Rajasthan Boys meet the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first encounter of the league on April 9th, 2018.
Squad: Steven Smith (C), Ben Stokes, Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D’Arcy Short, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Shreyas Gopal, MS Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Jatin Saxena, Aryaman Vikram Birla and Dushmantha Chameera