IPL 2019: Rajasthan Royals Kick-Off Preparations For Upcoming Season In Mumbai

Rajasthan Royals kicked off their preparations for the upcoming season of IPL as the members of the teams attended practice camp at Brabourne stadium that started today.

This is the second pre-season camp that the franchise has organised as the team had organised a similar kind of camp earlier as well.

This could the final pre-season camp for the team as the tournament starts on March 23.

In photos on social media players like Manan Vohra, Shreyas Gopal, Sanju Samson, Mahipal Lomror, Liam Livingstone, Dhawal Kulkarni and captain Ajinkya Rahane can be seen practising in Mumbai.

However, Rahane and Kulkarni will leave the camp as their state team, Mumbai qualified for the super league stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and they will play for their state. Rahane is also the captain of Mumbai.

Rajasthan Royals’ coaches are overseeing the preparations in the camp. Head coach Paddy Upton was also present.

Amol Muzumdar (batting coach), Sairaj Bahutale (spin bowling coach) and Dishant Yagnik (fielding coach) were present in the camp

The team did not have a head coach last year and had Shane Warne as the mentor. This year, he is the brand ambassador of the team, as it was announced the last month.

Unlike last IPL, the team will be having the services of Steve Smith, who had missed the last season due to the ban by Cricket Australia.

He was also announced as the captain but Rahane was given the captaincy once it was confirmed that Smith will not be here in India.

His ban ends on March 28 and Smith will be allowed to play in the league after that.

It remains to be seen when he will land in India and join the camp.

Smith had suffered an elbow injury during Bangladesh premier league and only returned to practice session recently.

He shared a video of Instagram a few days back while batting in nets and in all likeliness he is expected to be fit for IPL and World Cup.

The t20 tournament will be the only tournament on the basis of which he will be making his comeback in the national team.

It is highly likely that Smith will be recalled to the national squad for the World Cup that will start on May 30^th.