Squad: Complete list of Players in Rajasthan Royals Team for IPL 2019
Rajasthan Royals (RR) have never been the most glamorous team of the Indian Premier League (IPL). They have always tended to be a quiet team who look to punch above their weight. After a two-year hiatus, Rajasthan Royals made a decent comeback last year when they qualified for the playoffs. While all the attention was on Chennai Super Kings’ comeback, RR quietly went about their business and did well to make it to the top four.
They tried to plug in the loopholes in the 2019 IPL auctions. While they retained most of the core group, RR bought nine players ahead of this season’s IPL. They added a couple of express fast bowlers in Varun Aaron and Oshane Thomas and also added some batting back-up in the form of Manan Vohra, Liam Livingstone, and Ashton Turner.
Hence, with IPL just a month away, let’s take a quick look at the entire squad of the Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming edition of the IPL.
Batsmen and wicket-keepers
Batsmen: Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Manan Vohra, Liam Livingstone, Rahul Tripathi, Prashant Chopra, Riyan Parag, Shashank Singh, Shubham Rajane, Ashton Turner.
Wicket-keepers: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler
Last season, Rajasthan Royals’ success was largely built around the top-order batsmen. The move to open the batting with Jos Buttler worked wonders as the England wicket-keeper turned things around and finished the season with 548 runs which included five fifties. Sanju Samson was another batsman who made big runs (441 runs) last year.
However, the other batsmen did struggle in the middle. Ajinkya Rahane blew hot and cold while the other Indian batsmen couldn’t get going. Hence, the addition of Steve Smith this year will lend solidity to the line-up. However, RR will have to closely monitor his fitness as well as he recently went through an elbow surgery. But they’ve got a couple of good international backups in the form of Liam Livingstone and Ashton Turner, who have a good T20 record.
Manan Vohra, Prashant Chopra, and Rahul Tripathi offer good Indian variety and will need to back up the international stars.