Rajasthan Royals Auction Preview

Squad Size: 16

Purse Remaining: 34.8 Cr

Available slots (Overseas): 8 (3)

Who have they retained: 

Rajasthan Royals have appointed a new director of cricket in Kumar Sangakkara and have chosen to make Sanju Samson the new captain of the team. They have also retained the English trio of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler. RR have continued with their leg-spin strategy and have retained all three of their wrist-spinners Rahul Tewatia, Mayank Markande and Shreyas Gopal. David Miller, who only played one game in 2020 and got out without facing a delivery has also been retained alongside the India U-19 duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kartik Tyagi.

Who have they released: 

Rajasthan Royals have chosen to release their captain Steve Smith after a poor IPL 2020. Smith is the longest-serving player for the Royals but he wasn’t offering the value of his 12.5 Cr contract and in the end releasing him was the correct decision. The Royals have also released pacers Oshane Thomas, Tom Curran, Ankit Rajpoot and Varun Aaron. Additionally, they have also traded Robin Uthappa to the Chennai Super Kings after only one season with the franchise.

What they need: 

With Smith and Uthappa both gone, Rajasthan needs a top-order batsman who can open the innings. The Royals have chosen to use Stokes and Buttler at the top in recent years to good effect. However, there is currently a limited number of middle-order batsman available and hence it might be better for the balance of the team if Stokes and Buttler bat in the middle order. Royals also need an overseas all-rounder to back up Stokes and some pacers to complement Archer. The Royals also have three leg-spinners in their side and should look to bring in one off-spinner in the squad.

Players they can sign: 

The top-order players Rajasthan Royals can look to get in the Auction are the Australian white-ball captain Aaron Finch or Jason Roy or Alex Hales from England. The all-rounder they could target as a backup option for Stokes could be Shivam Dube from India or Jimmy Neesham or Sherfane Rutherford as overseas options. In terms of fast bowling, they should look at Nathan Coulter Nile who won the IPL last season with Mumbai or Chris Morris from South Africa as overseas options.