IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals' strongest possible line-up
The inaugural winners of IPL, Rajasthan Royals have changed their auction strategy over the years. Earlier, the Jaipur-based franchise focused on the younger talents and played the role of uplifting their careers. However, in the last 3 seasons, the team management has gone after the big names.
They have signed Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, and Jos Buttler to bolster their line-up. Besides, they have let go Ajinkya Rahane this year. Talking about the IPL Auction 2020, they roped in Robin Uthappa as a replacement for Rahane while they also freed up their funds by getting Unadkat back at a lower price. Royals also added the upcoming youngster, Yashasvi Jaiswal besides signing T20 specialists David Miller and Andrew Tye.
Rajasthan Royals IPL 2020 Squad: Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Steve Smith, Robin Uthappa, David Miller, Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Oshane Thomas, Andrew Tye, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, Shashank Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aniruddha Joshi, Tom Curran, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Anuj Rawat.
With an aim of winning their second IPL title, Steve Smith will lead them in 2020. Here’s a look at their strongest XI.
Openers | Jos Buttler (wk) and Robin Uthappa
English wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler will open the innings for Rajasthan Royals once again but this time he will have a new opening partner in Robin Uthappa. Buttler has been a star for Rajasthan in the IPL. During the previous IPL season, he had scored 311 runs in just 8 matches. His average of 38.87 and strike rate of 151.70 show his importance in the Jaipur-based franchise.
The 34-year-old Indian batsman, Robin Uthappa will look to resurrect his IPL career after having a dismal season with Kolkata Knight Riders last year. He could score only 282 runs in 12 matches for Kolkata at a disappointing strike rate of 115.10. Royals should promote him to the opening position because that is where he can make the maximum impact.