RR SWOT Analysis: With new skipper, Royals should inject pack of Indian players

What comes in your minds first up when you hear Rajasthan? Traditions? Yes. Heritage? Yes. Folktales? Yes. But if you are a cricket lover, your mind will ring the bell and the first thing that would cross your mind would the IPL franchise team Rajasthan Royals. 

Just like the state has stories to narrate, the Rajasthan franchise too have scripts to talk about. But the only difference is that RR have had mixed affairs. They can be proud of some but some are really forgettable ones. Well what has gone is gone and what RR need to look at is the future prospects and whom do they need to produce some positive results.

The Royals took a bold step ahead of the auctions after letting go of captain Steve Smith and handing the skipper’ arm band to Sanju Samson while trading Robin Uthappa to the Chennai Super Kings. But what led to Smith’s omission from the setup? RR ended their 2020 IPL campaign at the bottom of the points table. 

RR began the proceedings well but lost the momentum soon after the second match. After winning the first two clashes, the Royals suffered defeats in the next four and eventually ended the edition with 8 losses to their name. 

What are the changes required?

Well looking at the retained list of the team, the Rajasthan team seems to have a balanced side and have very few traits missing in their ranks. They have a couple of front line wicket-keeper batsmen, a proper all-rounder, leg-spinners, two aggressive batsmen and a huge arsenal of fast bowlers. 

But few of the major genres that have gone missing in the RR line up is a genuine off-spinner.

Purse remaining

Rajasthan Royals have a total of Rs 37.85 Cr under their belt. 

Players retained

Rajasthan Royals have retained Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra

Alternates

The one thing that Rajasthan Royals need to target is having an off-spinner in their attack. The problem can be solved if they go for someone line K Gowtham who can also bat and can score runs in a brisk manner if required. 

More than alternates, RR need like for like replacements. To start with, RR should seek few Indian batsmen. Someone like Mohammad Azharuddin, Avi Barot, Rahul Singh can solve the issue for the franchise. 

All the three batsmen have made a name for themselves in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. 

Another name that can nullify the issues for RR is Shahrukh Khan. But the way he has fared in the SMAT 2021, the franchises might go for a bidding war for him and this RR might have to go over budget. 

Coming to the overseas players, RR only have three slots and can target someone like Jason Roy. Roy has been known for his aggressive hitting in international cricket and can open the batting too if required. 

The bowling department is more or less sorted for RR but as we mentioned they would need to build a squad with players who have similar sorts of game play. 

Let’s first have a look at the available Indian players who can be picked by RR in the mini auctions. 

To start with, they can opt for uncapped bowlers. The side can go for someone like Lukman Meriwala who scalped 15 wickets in 8 matches at an impressive economy of 6.52 while playing for Baroda in the SMAT 2021.

While the franchise can get Meriwala, they can also bid for Chetan Sakariya of Saurashtra who bagged 12 wickets in 5 matches. 

Coming to the overseas pick and the amount RR have in their kitty, the team can easily go in the bidding war for Riley Meredith while can have Chris Morris as another fast bowling all-rounder in the ranks. 

What to spend and how?

RR have a remaining purse of Rs 37.85 Cr with 9 slots to be filled. Out of these 9, six slots will go to the Indian players while three to overseas. 

Now if RR go for Jason Roy (Base Price- Rs 2Cr), Chris Morris (Base Price- Rs 75L) and Meredith (Base price- Rs 40L) and fetch the three at a sum of around Rs 17 Cr, they are still left with more that Rs 20Cr to pick six Indian players. 

With Rs 20Cr in their purse, the Rajasthan franchise will be able enough to go into a bidding war for Azharuddin, Meriwala and Gowtham. If the franchise is able to get these three within Rs 10-12 Cr, getting, Rahul, Barot and Sakariya won’t be much of a problem for the side. 

Predicting XIs

Sanju Samson (C/WK), Jasiwal, David Miller, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi, Jaydev Unadkat