[Watch] Rajasthan Royals welcome their new players with team dinner
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) welcomed the new additions to their squad for the IPL 2023 season at a team dinner and party. The franchise finished second in the points table a year ago and were runners-up to the Gujarat Titans (GT).
The Royals boasted of the Orange Cap (Jos Buttler) and Purple Cap (Yuzvendra Chahal) winners in last year's IPL. Buttler scored 863 runs, and Chahal picked up 27 wickets across 17 matches.
RR added a few new entrants to their squad at the mini-auction last year in a bid to go one step further in this year's IPL. They picked up the likes of Jason Holder, Joe Root, Adam Zampa, Donovan Ferreira, KM Asif, and Murugan Ashwin, among others.
The Royals later added IPL veteran Sandeep Sharma to replace injured paceman Prasidh Krishna.
At a team dinner organised by the franchise, Royals Head Coach Kumar Sangakkara addressed the team first before some of the old guards like Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, and Navdeep Saini gave an introductory welcome to the new additions.
There was also a lovely video message from the families of the newly added players wishing them luck for the upcoming season.
Here's a video of the event shared by the franchise on their Twitter handle.
Team dinner? It's a #RoyalsFamily thing. 💗 https://t.co/AxCB02xUZr
"We value his overall game" - Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara on Joe Root
Joe Root was picked up at the mini-auction for ₹1 crore for his first stint in the IPL. Ahead of the Royals' opening game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, head coach Kumar Sangakkara heaped praise on the former England Test captain, saying:
“Joe Root is a great player. He is an all-format player. He had a great T20 outing here in India where they lost to West Indies in the final (2016 T20 World Cup) and a great outing in UAE as well (ILT20). He has a role to play for us, be it in the start or specific matches."
He added:
"We value his overall game against spin and pace and the fact that he is a smart offspinner. There are quite a few aspects of his game that will come in handy for us.”
Root was among the star performers in the 2016 T20 World Cup held in India, finishing third on the run-scoring charts with 249 runs.
Sangakkara also provided insight into the newly instituted Impact Player rule.
“Being clear as to who do you want as an impact player, when do you want to use, whether he gives you the advantage is the key. We have discussed on it. Hopefully, we will get it right, there are no guarantees. As the tournament goes on, sides will get more used to using the best players for it.”
The Royals begin their campaign against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on April 2.