Last season, Rajasthan Royals won 4 out of the last 5 league matches, finishing the league stage on a highly positive note. However, they finished second best in the eliminator against KKR.
RR have strengthened their squad considerably with the additions of Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, Liam Livingstone and Manan Vohra. Not to mention, Steve Smith, who will be back after missing the last edition.
The Australian duo of D’Arcy Short and Ben Laughlin have been released after having highly underwhelming seasons last year.
Team after 2019 Player Auction
In:- Vohra, Riyan Parag, Turner, S Ranjane, Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Oshane Thomas, Unadkat(released and later bought back in the auction)
Out:- Unadkat, Anureet Singh, Ankit Sharma, Jatin Saxena, D’Arcy Short, Ben Laughlin
Strengths
Rajasthan Royals had a turn of fortunes the previous year after promoting Jos Buttler to the opening slot. Taking them to the play-offs, almost single handedly, Buttler will again be the most vital cog in the RR wheel.
RR have got one of the best fast bowling reserves this season, with the addition of Aaron and Oshane Thomas to the trio of Dhawal Kulkarni, Archer and Unadkat(was released and later purchased again in the auctions)
Rahane has time and again proven to be a very astute cricketer. His leadership in the last edition was also highly appreciated. RR can bank on Rahane’s leadership to get them out of tricky situations.
Presence of two high quality leg-spinners in Sodhi and Gopal. Sodhi has been one of the best T20 bowlers in the international circuit in the last year or so while Gopal has also performed well albeit in the domestic circuit. These two will cause the batting sides a lot of problems, although the chances of them playing together looks really slim unless and until the wicket demands so. They wrecked havoc the last time they played against RCB.
Weakness
Rajasthan Royals need to get their combinations spot on. There have been a lot of instances in the past where the team combinations and the batting order have been highly questionable. The batting position of Buttler in the first half of the tournament last year being a prime example of that.
Predicted Starting XI
Jos Buttler(wk)
Ajinkya Rahane(c)
Sanju Samson
Ben Stokes
Ashton Turner/ Steven Smith
Manan Vohra/ Stuart Binny
Krishnappa Goutham
Shreyas Gopal
Jofra Archer
Jaydev Unadkat
Dhawal Kulkarni
Rajasthan Royals – IPL Schedule
With a balanced batting line-up and a good set of all-rounders to choose from, RR look to be a force to reckon with this season.
Expected position in the league table: Play-offs