RR Playing 11 IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals Predicted Playing XI for Indian Premier League 2021

RR Playing 11 IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals added as many as eight players to their squad including a record-breaking deal in IPL 2021 auction.

After naming batsman Sanju Samson as their captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals bought eight players in the auction which was held in Chennai last month.

Royals, who went all out for South Africa all-rounder Chris Morris splurging a mammoth INR 16.25 crore to acquire his services, had an impressive auction in which they’ve bought a couple of all-rounders who are most likely to walk straight into their Playing XI.

With the likes of former captain Steven Smith and veteran batsman Robin Uthappa no longer part of their XI, expect them to make a few changes when they take the field in their season opener against Punjab Kings on April 12.

Having also included a total of four specialist pacers, Rajasthan have strengthened a facet of their squad which had let them down on multiple occasions in IPL 2020.

RR Playing 11 IPL 2021

Top-order

Having scored 285 runs in eight innings at an average and strike rate of 40.71 and 142.50 respectively including a century and half-century, seasoned all-rounder Ben Stokes justified Royals’ ploy of opening the batting with him. With the move reaping fruits, expect RR to stick with Stokes at the top of the order.

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Stokes’ England teammate Jos Buttler, who was demoted down the order to accommodate Stokes at the top, can be swapped anytime with Stokes for both of them should be playing throughout the season and swapping them won’t affect the rest of the combination.

While Samson is another certainty at No. 3, Royals will have to zero in on a new opening partner for Stokes. In Manan Vohra, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Anuj Rawat, Royals have three domestic Indian batsmen who can face the new ball.

Middle order

Smith’s departure from the middle-order means that Rajasthan will have to fit in a batsman at No. 4. Out of Riyan Parag and Mahipal Lomror, the former appears to be up in the pecking order with respect to batting in the middle-order.

While Buttler will continue to play the role of a lead finisher, a couple of newly-recruited all-rounders in Shivam Dube and Morris have it in them to provide able assistance to the swashbuckling English player.

In David Miller and Liam Livingstone, Rajasthan do have a couple of batsmen who can bat in the middle-order but they won’t be having an extra spot for an overseas playing in their XI, at least in the first few matches.

Bowlers

Apart from Stokes, Morris and Dube, Rajasthan will have the likes of Jofra Archer and Jaydev Unadkat to bolster their bowling unit. With 20 wickets in 14 matches at an economy and strike rate of 6.55 and 16.7 respectively, Archer was the pick of their bowlers last season.

Unadkat, on the other hand, didn’t stood tall on his potential with his four wickets in seven T20s coming at 57 and 9.91 respectively. While him being a left-armer might work in his favour, he will face strong competition for the lone spot of an Indian pacer from the likes of Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Chetan Sakariya and Kuldip Singh.

In the leg-spinner duo of Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal, Rajasthan will continue to bank upon their joint second-highest wicket-takers in IPL 2020.

RR Playing 11 IPL 2021 – 1) Manan Vohra 2) Ben Stokes 3) Sanju Samson (c) 4) Riyan Parag 5) Jos Buttler (wk) 6) Shivam Dube 7) Chris Morris 8) Rahul Tewatia 9) Jofra Archer 10) Shreyas Gopal 11) Jaydev Unadkat