Rajasthan Royals is among those teams that have let go of the majority of a large squad they had. They have released eleven players and made a few trades as well. Off the 14 players they have retained, seven will be an automatic pick for the playing eleven. Provided they are available throughout the eight weeks, they are expected to play all the 14 matches.
The core agenda of Steve Smith and the Rajasthan management in this auction will be to get a hard-hitting Indian all-rounder who can bat down the order and buy a couple of Indian seamers as well. However, with three England players in their starting eleven, Rajasthan might have look for similar backup foreign players in the auction.
Players Released
Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, Shubham Ranjane, Prashant Chopra, Ish Sodhi, Aryaman Birla, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny, Liam Livingstone, Sudheshan Midhun.
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Players Retained
Steve Smith (captain), Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mahipal Lomror, Varun Aaron, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Rajpoot
Purse Remaining: Rs 28.90 crores
Slot Remaining: 11 (four overseas)
Foreign backups
Chris Lynn(Base price- Rs 2 crores) is one of the destructive openers going around in the shortest form of the game. After his impressive cameo in the latter half of 2017, Kolkata Knight Riders retained Lynn for Rs 9.6 crores in 2018. He has reasonably well by scoring more than 400 runs in both 2018 and 2019 at a strike rate over 130.
The team management though expected more from him as his average strike rate in the Big Bash League is 150 and his struggle against spin was cracked by the opponents. Lynn has hit form ever since he was released from KKR. He has smashed 295 runs at a strike rate of 186.70 in the recently concluded Global T20 league in Canada. Rajasthan can make use of him to either open with Buttler or as a backup replacement for him as one can expect England players to leave early to national duty.
Chris Morris(Base price- Rs 1.5 crores) is another fast bowling all-rounder whom the Rajasthan Royal might go after in the auction. Although Morris may not match the calibre and stardom of Ben Stokes, he is as good as one can get when it comes to T20s. A pinch hitter who can bowl 3-4 overs is of great value to any side. Add to the fact that Morris has represented Rajasthan in the past and have been one of their key match-winners in his early days. His T20 career strike rate of 150 and an economy less than eight runs per over fits the overseas all-rounder criteria for any T20 franchise. There might be a few teams which may look out for Morris, Rajasthan might be the most benefited team, if they managed to get hold of him. Alzarri Joseph set the stage on fire in last years IPL with an impressive performance of 6-12 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, he injured himself in the very next match and was ruled out of the tournament. Joseph was seen alongside the winning Mumbai team holding the IPL trophy with a bandaged shoulder after the final. Mumbai Indian has released him ahead of the auctions and Rajasthan might keen on roping them under their belt as they have already let go of Oshane Thomas. Jofra Archer is playing all three formats and the England Cricket board will have an eye on his workload management. At a base price of Rs 50 lakhs, the 23-year-old Joseph could be a backup for Archer if he had to leave midway through the tournament.
Indian pacers
Mohit Sharma (Base price- Rs 50 lakhs) is back in the auction after a mediocre season with the Chennai Super Kings after being bought for Rs 5 crores in the 2019 auction. Though Rajasthan has Varun Aaron and Ankit Rajpoot in the squad already, their inconsistency has bitten them multiple times in the past. Mohit at his base price might be a good addition to the squad and he can be used in the top as well as the death overs. He can swing the ball and his back of the hand slower ball might handy in a ground like Jaipur where the boundaries are relatively huge.
Rajasthan has let go of Jaydev Unadkat after back-to-back bad seasons for them. His cutters weren’t working well for them on the Jaipur pitch. In the absence of Unadkat, Barinder Sran (Base Price- Rs 50 lakhs) might be a great addition to the Rajasthan squad. The lanky left-arm seamer can be handy alongside Archer and either of Rajpoot and Aaron. It will give a variety to the bowling attack as Sran can swing the ball both the ways to a right-hand batsman. If Rajasthan can buy him at a relatively low price, it is a win-win situation for them.
Other options
Yusuf Pathan(Base Price Rs 1 crore) is another important player in the auction for Rajasthan Royals. They have let go of Krishnappa Gowtham, who will be attracting big money in the auction. In the absence of Gowtham, a player like Yusuf who can bat lower down the order and bowl a bit of off-spin will be extremely useful for Rajasthan as their top five batting slots are almost packed and pick themselves. Yusuf’s power-hitting can come to fore with the team requiring him to play short cameos more often than not. At 37, there may not be many buyers for Yusuf in the auction. However, Rajasthan can make use of him for the upcoming season as the 2021 auction will be a full revamp for all the teams.
Rajasthan can also look for Tushar Deshpande, Colin Munro, Ben Cutting, Robin Uthappa in the auction who can be handy, if they are not able to get hold of the players we have mentioned above.
