Rajasthan Royals playing 11 from S Sreesanth's last IPL game in 2013 - where are they now?
Former Indian cricketer S Sreesanth turns 41-years-old today. He played for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), Kochi Tuskers Kerala (now dissolved), and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL during his career.
The right-arm fast-medium pacer was known for his aggression and passion. Sreesanth was bought by KXIP ahead of the inaugural edition of the IPL for ₹2.5 crore. His best IPL season came in 2008, where he picked up 19 wickets in 15 matches at an economy rate of 8.63 and a strike rate of 16.15.
After three seasons with KXIP, he was released and picked up by then-IPL newcomers Kochi Tuskers Kerala for ₹4.14 crore in the. He represented them in the 2011 edition before again jumping ship to join RR after being snapped up by them for ₹1.84 crore ahead of the 2012 edition.
Sreesanth played five seasons of the IPL, from 2008 to 2013 (he was ruled out with an injury in 2012). Overall, he picked up 40 wickets in 44 games at an economy rate of 8.14 and a strike rate of 22.
His last IPL game happened to be against KXIP, after which he was taken into police custody for match-fixing allegations. The then-30-year-old was given a lifetime ban from cricket by the BCCI, which was later reduced to seven years in 2019.
Sreesanth played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs, and 10 T20Is for India from 2005 to 2011. He was also part of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team as well as the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning team. The pacer famously took Misbah-ul-Haq's catch in the T20 World Cup final.
In this article, we look at the playing XI of the Rajasthan Royals from S Sreesanth's last IPL game in 2013.
Openers: Rahul Dravid (C) and Ajinkya Rahane
Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane, two of India's most technically sound batters of the last 30 years, opened the innings for the Rajasthan Royals in Sreesanth's last IPL game.
The skipper scored just four runs. However, Rahane played a match-winning knock of 59*, which featured three fours and as many sixes, to help RR achieve the 146-run target set by KXIP on May 9.
Like Sreesanth, IPL 2013 was Dravid's final season in the IPL, but for very different reasons. The then-40-year-old Dravid retired from all forms of cricket in 2013. He has been working as the head coach of the Indian cricket team since 2021, after serving in a similar role for India U-19 and India A from 2015–2021.
Rahane's IPL career went downhill after the 2015 season, when RR were banned from the IPL for two years. Having played for multiple franchises since then, Rahane finally found his feet at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in 2023, where he got a new lease of life under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
Middle-order batters: Shane Watson, Sanju Samson, Brad Hodge and Dishant Yagnik (WK)
Shane Watson, Sanju Samson, Brad Hodge, and Dishant Yagnik, the latter of whom was the wicketkeeper ahead of Samson, formed the middle order in Sreesanth's final IPL game.
Watson scored 31 off 25 balls before perishing to Piyush Chawla. Samson scored an unbeaten 47 off 33 balls, a knock that included five boundaries and one six. Hodge and Yagnik did not bat as the Rajasthan Royals won by eight wickets remaining.
Arugably RR's greatest player, Watson has scored the fourth-most runs for the franchise and taken the most wickets as well. He played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2016 and 2017 editions before joining CSK for a three-year stint between 2018 and 2020.
The all-rounder hung up his boots after the IPL 2020 campaign, retiring from all forms of cricket. The 42-year-old is working as a commentator and is the founder of two businesses, BEON Performance and T20 Stars. He's also the president of the Australian Cricketers' Association.
Samson is another player who is right up there when it comes to the best RR player of all time debate. The Kerala batter took a two-year exile to the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) when RR were serving the ban.
However, he was bought back by RR in the IPL 2018 mega auction. The 29-year-old is already the highest run-scorer in RR history, with 3403 runs to his credit. He has been captaining the side since IPL 2021 and is the face of the Jaipur-based outfit.
Hodge's final season in the IPL was the 2014 edition. The right-handed batter served as head coach for the Gujarat Lions (now terminated) in IPL 2016 and IPL 2017 and for KXIP in IPL 2018. He retired from all forms of cricket in 2018 at the age of 43. The former Australian cricketer has been working as a commentator for the last five years.
Yagnik's last season in the IPL was in 2015. The Rajasthan wicketkeeper retired from domestic cricket in 2017. The 40-year-old has been RR's fielding coach since 2018.
All-rounders: Kevon Cooper and James Faulkner
Kevon Cooper and James Faulkner are two of the most "streets won't forget" types of players in the IPL. They both had successful careers with the Rajasthan Royals, but faded away quickly as time went by.
In Sreesanth's final game, Cooper picked up three wickets for the concession of just 23 runs in his full quota of overs. He dismissed Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, and David Miller and was rightly adjudged Player of the Match. Faulkner's figures in that match read 1/37.
Cooper picked up 29 wickets in just 20 matches for RR in the IPL in 2012 and 2013. However, his form dipped massively in 2014, leading to just five appearances and four wickets. He went unsold in the subsequent IPL auction and hasn't played any form of cricket since 2018, when he was still only 29.
Faulkner played for the Gujarat Lions during the two seasons when the Rajasthan Royals were banned, but his IPL career peaked during his time in Jaipur. The 2015 ODI World Cup final Player of the Match suffered from injuries, retired from international cricket in 2017, and hasn't played any form of cricket since the 2022 PSL season.
Bowlers: Ajit Chandila, S Sreesanth and Siddharth Trivedi
Ajit Chandila dismissed Mandeep Singh for a duck in the first over of the KXIP innings in Sreesanth's final IPL game. Sreesanth went wicketless and conceded 18 runs in his two-over spell. Siddharth Trivedi had the exact same bowling figures as Sreesanth.
Like Sreesanth, Chandila was also accused of match-fixing, and this was his final IPL match. Ankeet Chavan was also banned, along with Chandila and Sreesanth. In 2016, BCCI gave him a lifetime ban from all forms of cricket, but it was later reduced to seven years, which ended on January 18, 2023.
Trivedi was a cult hero for the Rajasthan Royals. The pacer picked up 65 wickets in 75 matches for the 2008 IPL winners, making him the second-highest wicket taker for the franchise.
He was banned for one year after he failed to report that bookies approached him in the 2013 IPL match fixing scandal, even though he had no involvement in match fixing. The 41-year-old hasn't played IPL after that and retired from domestic cricket in 2015.