IPL 2019 | Know Your Team - Rajasthan Royals

When Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition of the IPL with a bunch of underdogs, the management felt that was the recipe for success and there was no need to change it. They refused to splurge cash on big players but instead pinned their hopes on value-for-money cricketers. With other teams acquiring the services of stars, Royals unsurprisingly slipped down the radar and more often than not, battled for survival. They even served a two-year ban over spot-fixing and betting charges in 2016 and 2017.

Back in the mix last year, Royals wear completely different. They’ve not shied away from loosening their purse strings for superstars and have acquired some of the most explosive batsmen in their ranks. The ambition was evident when they finished fourth last season, pulling off some incredible wins in the process. They would be hoping to better their show this time around.

Strengths

Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Ashton Turner and Sanju Samson, they have a destructive batting unit that can tear apart any attack in the world. Add the calmness of Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith, there’s no doubt batting will be the pillar of strength.

Weakness

Buttler, Stokes and possibly Turner will be summoned for national duty in early May which would weaken their side as there’s not much depth in batting beyond them. Royals also don’t have a great fast bowler in their ranks with Jaydev Unadkat forced to carry that load.

Squad

Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Shubham Ranjane, Ashton Turner, Steve Smith, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Sudhesan Midhun, Jaydev Unadkat, Ish Sodhi, Prashant Chopra, Mahipal Lomror, Oshane Thomas, Aryaman Birla, Riyan Parag, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Liam Livingstone, Varun Aaron, Jos Buttler, Shashank Singh, Manan Vohra, Rahul Tripathi.