- LATEST
- WEBSTORY
- TRENDING
CRICKET
IPL Auction 2018: Despite getting Ben Stokes, a moderate day 1 for Rajasthan Royals
Lot of ground to cover for RR.
Updated : Jan 28, 2018, 12:18 AM IST
 "Chairman and CEO, Rajasthan Royals, Ranjit Barthakur (L), arrives for the IPL 2018 Player Auction, in Bangalore")
TRENDING NOW
)
From training alongside cricketers like Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal to facing harassment- Know Anaya Bangar's story of transition, cricket dreams, and courage
)
Pat Cummins to miss rest of IPL 2025? SRH captain's wife's cryptic Instagram post sparks speculation
)
Mukesh Ambani joined Reliance in 1981, Anil Ambani in 1983, latter became world's 6th richest person but then slipped, his current net worth is...
)
PAN-Aadhaar Link Deadline 2025 Extended: Process to Link PAN-Aadhaar Without Penalty & Avoid PAN Deactivation
)
Meet man who helped Mukesh Ambani's son Anant Ambani lose 108 kilos, he charges Rs...
)
Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal hosts daughter Harshita's grand wedding, flaunts dance moves; Know all about his son-in-law
)
10 most handsome men in the World: This BTS member beats Hrithik Roshan, Chris Evans, Brad Pitt
)
Son gives up hope on engineering as he skips IIT JEE Main, his father's response melts hearts online: 'BTech is...'
)
Vinesh Phogat's net worth was only Rs 5 crore before Paris Olympics, her net worth jumped to Rs..., after she decided to...
)
Rishi Kapoor's biggest mistake, suggesting Mithun Chakraborty for this blockbuster, Karz actor wanted to get rid of producer: 'Main bewakoof hoon'
)
Jaat box office collection day 9: Despite backlash, competition from Kesari 2, Sunny Deol-starrer maintains its hold, collects Rs 86 crores worldwide
)
Meet Sambhav Jain, AAP chief and ex-Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's daughter Harshita's husband, couple met during their time at..., they co-founded...
)
SRH owner Kavya Maran buys star RCB cricketer in middle of IPL 2025, the cricketer is..., he is from...
)
Meet Sanjiv Goenka, Lucknow Super Giants owner, also owns a football club, his wife is famous interior designer, has this Mukesh Ambani connection, his net worth is...
Rajasthan Royals took a clean break from its past strategy of going for bits and pieces unheralded players. On Day 1 of the auction, it went for some of the players who have made waves in recent times. So in a way, their selection got much appreciation on Twitter. But an IPL team is also about the nuts and bolts players, whose performance is often the difference between an average and champion teams. On Saturday, Rajasthan Royals showed no real intent to get such utility Indian cricketers,
Before the auction they retained Steve Smith, who will be the captain in all likelihood. During the auction, it used RTM to get Ajinkya Rahane, who has played a large part of his IPL career for the Royals.
It virtually gave its all to get Ben Stokes, in a bid to replace the hole left by Shane Watson. Stokes was bought for Rs 12.5 crore, money well spent.
The rest of the auction strategy though was perplexing. RR just couldn't get going during the auction and ended up buying only 8 player . Two of them are BBL stars, D'arcy Short and Joffra Archer. Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson and Jos Butler are all explosive players.
However RR is in desperate need for bowlers. It hasn't bought anyone so far. The team also doesn't have any frontline A-lister pacer so far. The good news for RR is that they still have Rs 23.5 purse. The bad news is that cream of the lot have already been sold. RR need to get its act together on Day 2 and look to target some of the top bowlers who went unsold on Day 1. So Ishant, Hazlewood, Southie has to be on RR's radar alongside host of other bowlers who are there on pool.
RR can still salvage the auction, but it definitely need to be smart in its pickings to build a team which can challenge the fancied squads.
RR squad so far:
Rajasthan Royals: Ben Stokes (Rs 12.50 crore), Sanju Samson (Rs 8 crore), Jofra Archer (Rs 7.2 crore), Jos Buttler (Rs 4.40 crore), Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 4 crore), Darcy Short (Rs 4 crore), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 3.40 crore), Stuart Binny (Rs 50 lakh)
