RTM, IPL 11, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings,
Steven Smith played 69 IPL matches since 2012 and he is averaging at 37.02. The right-handed batter scored 1,703 runs which saw him registering one hundred and five fifties. Photo Credit: IPL.

Rajasthan Royals who won the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League has retained only one player for the 11th season of IPL. Royals will be returning to the tournament after serving a suspension for a couple of years. Their owners were involved in a spot-fixing scandal which forced them to remain out of the tournament for two years.

They have decided to retain only one player for the 2018 season, and he is none other than Australian skipper and the man who led Rising Pune Supergiant t the final of the 2017 season to the tournament. Smith has been a special player for any franchise he has played so far, and in the last couple of years, he has evolved as a player immensely especially in the shorter formats of the game.

They might go on to retain a few more players in the Right to Match Act, but as of now, he has decided to retain just Smith. The right-hander had played some special knocks for his franchise Rising Pune Supergiant in the last couple of years and almost single-handedly won them the tournament last time around before Mumbai Indians eventually returned triumphantly by a solitary run.

Royals performed brilliantly in the opening season of the tournament and proved that to win a T20 tournament what matters is unity and combined performance of individuals. They didn’t have any special names in the ranks but what mattered the most for them was their enigmatic skipper Shane Warne who changed the fortune of the franchise with his sensational captaincy skills. The tournament also gave birth to some special talents which included the likes of Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and many more.

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