Haren
Rajasthan Royals entered the auction retaining as many as six players. So they had little to work around, but that didn’t stop them from finding their right targets. Like Mumbai Indians, they too had their batting group from last season intact, so all their eyes were on assembling a strong bowling group. While doing so they did take a couple of huge punts, going for Jofra Archer and Wanindu Hasaranga – two players with a worrying fitness record – who are expected to play crucial roles. That is just a caution as they too walked out knowing what their XI is.
Batsmen
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Wicketkeepers
Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Kunal Singh Rathore.
Allrounders
Riyan Parag (spin), Nitish Rana (spin), Wanindu Hasaranga (spin), Yudhvir Singh (pace).
Spinners
Maheesh Theekshana, Kumar Kartikeya.
Fast bowlers
Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma.
Early impressions
In the last few seasons, they have gone about spending big on their first XI and it continued here at Jeddah as well. With Jaiswal, Samson, Jurel, Hetmyer and Parag already in the mix, they added the 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana and Yudhvir Singh as other batting option. How much they can depend on them is the question. In the spin department, they tried to get back both R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal before eventually settling for Sri Lanka’s Hasaranga and Theekshana. The two are contrasting to the ones they had, but are T20 globetrotters and could benefit the conditions at the SMS stadium in Jaipur. The pace battery is largely dependent on Archer, Sandeep and Tushar. While they do have a strong XI in hand that can adjust to different questions, there are still concerns about the lack of options.
Area of concern
An injury to one of their key fast bowlers could end up costing them a lot as it is thin on inexperience. Even back-up batting options are work in progress.
Possible XII
1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Tushar Deshpande.
