5 IPL players who brought out their best for Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals were the first-ever franchise to lift the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy. The Jaipur-based franchise started as underdogs in the 2008 IPL season, but they brought their A game to the table and won the championship under Shane Warne's captaincy.
The Royals have never relied on big names and have put their faith in the youngsters instead. RR gave a platform to the likes of Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Sachin Baby, Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Siddharth Trivedi, and many others to showcase their talent during the first eight seasons.
The new IPL team owners of the Rajasthan Royals franchise implemented a different strategy from the 2018 season onwards. They splurged enormous amounts to sign proven match-winners Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer.
Unfortunately, RR have not been able to add a second IPL trophy to their cabinet.
Still, quite a few players have impressed while wearing the Rajasthan Royals jersey in the IPL. In this article, we will look at five players who represented multiple IPL teams but brought out their best for RR.
5. Yusuf Pathan scored his only IPL hundred for the Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals signed Yusuf Pathan ahead of the inaugural IPL season. The Baroda all-rounder proved to be a game-changer for them, scoring 435 runs at a strike rate of close to 180, and picking up eight wickets in 2008.
Pathan was also named the player of the match in the first-ever IPL Final. He picked up three wickets in the first innings against Chennai Super Kings and then played a match-winning knock of 56 runs to guide RR to the title.
The Royals held on to him for two more seasons. In all, Yusuf aggregated 1,011 runs for the team, slamming six fifties and a hundred. He also picked up 20 wickets for RR.
Pathan could not play with the same consistency for KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad later in his IPL career.
4. Naman Ojha
Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Naman Ojha played for three IPL franchises in his career. Ojha made his debut for the Rajasthan Royals in 2009 and played 22 matches for the Jaipur-based franchise across two seasons.
The right-handed batsman aggregated 545 runs at an average of 28.68 for the Royals. Ojha's batting strike rate was 127.04, whereas he recorded four IPL fifties during his two-year stint with the Royals.
Ojha represented Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the latter phase of his IPL career. But he could only record two half-centuries in a total of 72 innings for Delhi and Hyderabad. His strike rate also dropped below 120.