"Rajasthan Royals will not be able to shop too much" - Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson's side's likely IPL 2023 auction strategy

Aakash Chopra feels the Rajasthan Royals (RR) will not be able to acquire too many big-ticket players at the IPL 2023 auction.

The Royals have retained 16 players heading into the auction to be held in Kochi on December 23. They have a remaining purse of ₹13.2 crore, with which they can buy a maximum of nine players and at most four foreigners.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Rajasthan Royals might follow a strategy similar to the one they used at last season's auction, saying:

"Rajasthan Royals still have nine slots to be filled, in which they have to find four overseas players and they have only 13.2 crores. Rajasthan Royals will not be able to shop too much. They will again buy cheap cricketers in a jiffy."

The former Indian opener added that Sanju Samson and Co. already seem to have their playing XI ready, explaining:

"Lots of players have actually been released but they are not the big purse ones. No one touches Buttler, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer or Sanju Samson, and Yuzi Chahal and Ashwin are still a part of this team. So honestly speaking, the team is ready. Your XI is ready, it is the last year's one."

The Royals released nine players ahead of the auction - Anunay Singh, Corbin Bosch, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Karun Nair, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Shubham Garhwal and Tejas Baroka. None of them were regulars in their playing XI in IPL 2022.

"I am not going to take the big names" - Aakash Chopra on the players Rajasthan Royals can look to acquire

Ben Stokes has played for the Rajasthan Royals previously. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Chopra reckons the Royals might not be able to reacquire Ben Stokes, reasoning:

"What can you do differently? They don't have too much money, so I am not going to take the big names, that you get Ben Stokes, although they like English players. I don't think you can get very big names."

However, the renowned commentator feels the inaugural IPL champions should look to buy an overseas all-rounder, stating:

"Their problem was that the six proper batters and five proper bowlers' story does not work, eventually you get found out in the IPL. It will be very good if they can get an overseas all-rounder."

Chopra named a few all-rounders the Rajasthan Royals might be interested in, elaborating:

"The cheap options could be Sikandar Raza, Romario Shepherd, Michael Bracewell, Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne or Mohammad Nabi. None of Ben Stokes, Sam Curran or Cameron Green are going to come to them. Maybe Sikandar Raza because you will not be able to afford Holder as well."

Dec 23. ⏳

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Chopra concluded by observing that RR can look at Ishant Sharma and Jaydev Unadkat if they need Indian pacers. He added that the Jaipur-based franchise should look to add a spin-bowling backup, highlighting that they only have KC Cariappa currently.