IPL TEAM PREVIEW: RR
Team Name:- Rajastan RoyalsCaptain:- Shane Watson
Rajasthan Royals won 10 out of their 16 games and came 3rd in the group stage of IPL 6. They went through to the finals but their winning run was halted by Mumbai Indians. They will open their season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 18. With the teams undergoing almost a complete makeover this time around, it remains to be seen how the new teams fare as a unit.
Rajasthan Royals Squad for IPL 7
They retained their stars and promising youngsters going into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 auction and thus stood to their character of developing youngsters under the mentor-ship of Rahul Dravid. They have a wonderful strength of utility all-rounders in their squad like they always have,the same way the Sri-Lankan team has.
Squad strength: 24
Costliest player: Steve Smith Rs 4 crores
Amount spent: Rs 54.45 crores (Rs 5.55 cr remaining)
Overseas players: 8
Batsmen: 4. Bowlers: 9. All-rounders: 8. Wicketkeepers: 3
| S Watson | All Rounder | Retained |
| J Faulkner | All Rounder | Retained |
| A Rahane | Batsman | Retained |
| S Binny | All Rounder | Retained |
| S Samson | Batsman | Retained |
| Player | Type | Price Paid |
| Steven Smith | All-Rounder | ₹4,00,00,000 |
| Brad Hodge | Batsman | ₹2,40,00,000 |
| Rajat Bhatia | All-Rounder | ₹1,70,00,000 |
| Tim Southee | Bowler | ₹1,20,00,000 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni | Bowler | ₹1,10,00,000 |
| Abhishek Nayar | All-Rounder | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Kane Richardson | Bowler | ₹1,00,00,000 |
| Ben Cutting | Bowler | ₹80,00,000 |
| Karun Nair | Batsman | ₹75,00,000 |
| Unmukt Chand | Batsman | ₹65,00,000 |
| Iqbal Abdullah | All-Rounder | ₹65,00,000 |
| Deepak Hooda | Bowler | ₹40,00,000 |
| Dishant Yagnik | Wicket Keeper | ₹30,00,000 |
| Kevon Cooper | All-Rounder | ₹30,00,000 |
| Vikramjeet Malik | Bowler | ₹20,00,000 |
| Ankit Nagendra Sharma | Bowler | ₹10,00,000 |
| Rahul Tewatia | All-Rounder | ₹10,00,000 |
| Ankush Bains | Wicket Keeper | ₹10,00,000 |
| Amit Mishra | Bowler | ₹10,00,000 |
| Pravin Tambe | Bowler | ₹10,00,000 |
Last year’s Strategy: The team that was considered an underdog did surprise many with their strong hold at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Rahane, Shane Watson, Rahul Dravud and Sanju Samson were the main men in the batting line-up for them, with Binny and Hodge played the role of finishers to the perfection at the end. Rajasthan have never had big names in their squad to the context of t20 as compared to the other sides, but they managed to do an excellent job with whatever resources they had.
This year’s Strategy: Rajasthan will be captained by Watson this season as Dravid will be mentoring the side only this time around after retiring from all forms of cricket last year. One should expect them to persist with the strategies that have worked for them so far in IPL, especially in the IPL 2013 and CLT20 2013. Steven Smith, Rahane, Hodge, Samson and Watson will be their key batsmen, while the leader of the pace attack would be Tim Southee. The presence of U-19 winning captain Unmukt Chand and All-Rounder Rajat Bhatia will also add to their strength.
Possible Best Playing 11:
1. Unmukt Chand
2. Ajinkya Rahane
3. Shane Watson (OVERSEAS) (C)
4. Sanju Samson (Wicket-Keeper)
5. Brad Hodge/ Steve Smith (OVERSEAS)
6. Stuart Binny
7. James Faulkner/ Steve Smith (OVERSEAS)
8. Rajat Bhatia
9. Iqbal Abdulla /Pravin Tambe
10. Vikramjeet Malik
11. Kevin Cooper/ Tim Southee (OVERSEAS)\
Availability:
NO INTERNATIONAL DUTIES FOR ANY OF RR’S PLAYERS IN BETWEEN IPL. SO,FULL STRENGTH SQUAD AVAILABLE FOR SELECTION.
