IPL 2018: Gameplan of Rajasthan Royals at the auction in Bengaluru

As 578 players would be trying their luck in one way or another and one of the eight teams for the Indian Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals is also making the return after a prolonged gap of two years while having the similar story of the rivals Chennai Super Kings.

Following a major overhauling of widely-known IPL, the auction for 11th edition would see how the bidding process will go. With Royals already picking the solitary overseas batsman Steven Smith, the players’ auction would be exciting with many fresh faces putting up their names to go under the hammer.

While relying on the performances of the players in the recent past, tactics are further bound to witness the management to intimidate the rivals.

With the inception of the tournament in 2008, Royals went into the record books to lift the inaugural title against Super Kings at DY Patil Stadium in Maharashtra by three wickets after chasing down the target of 164.

The Jaipur-based team has further witnessed the quality players which further included the enticing talent performing for the team which will be led by batting star Steven Smith.

Earlier, on January 4, Royals management had a different plan alongside Kings XI Punjab to seal the solitary player in the retention policy in the form of Steven Smith.

Royals have the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur as its home base and all-rounder Shane Watson in the past editions has been the highlight for the outfit before settling with Royal Challengers Bangalore.

With Ben Stokes, a major attraction for the teams, the marquee players in the competition are as many as 16 in numbers to make the auction more interesting after 1,122 players made themselves available for the burgeoning league.

However, from India, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, and Ravichandran Ashwin are among the few, to say the least before the bidding war will decide who’s going to fetch the lucrative bids.

Here’s what Royals would be looking for during the IPL Players’ Auction 2018:

The use of Right to Match Cards to the fullest:

From the pool of cricketers, the different expertise of the players would become handy as the strategy would play a crucial role which has been equally unpredictable at times in the past.

With just a player in the fold so far, the Royals would want to make detailed use of the Right to Match Cards.

Apart from the quality batting and bowling stocks, the management would be eyeing to pick the couple of youngsters who would be delivering goods in the much-awaited competition in summers.

If we talk about the all-rounder it would be an important option to go for the Royals.

Interestingly, owing to the use of RTM, Royals could retain only overseas player after bagging the leader in Smith.

Focusing more on Categories of M1 and M2:

The two-tier category of the marquee players would be playing on the minds of the Royals management during the auction time.

The two different categories under M1 and M2 also include the liking of Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh apart from the explosive opener Chris Gayle and Mitchell Starc.

After shelling out INR 12 crore on Smith, come this Saturday (January 21) Royals management will make the best use of the remaining balance of INR 67.5 crore which further sees the side returning to the business in style.

Balanced squad after two-year drought:

The team balance has played a vital role when it comes to the gentleman’s game with an injury to the players being essentially the part and parcel of the game.

The ambiguous choice in the past has made things miserable for the teams, but with the time the all-round improvement has been the focal season after another with teams availing the services of the prominent faces in the world cricket.

While aiming to tick the paperwork, Royals would be making the auction interesting affair to focus on the balanced line-ups after the return to IPL fold.

Fresh recruits and the platform:

The fresh legs would be introduced in the side, as the squad strength is bound to be 24 with Indian most in the list when it comes to the number of overseas players.

The IPL has been the enriched example of the blend of youth and the senior campaigners and Royals would be looking forward to introduce the promising players to dictate the terms.

With the 11th edition spread over 50 days, the home-base has often something special on an offer for the teams and Royals would be making most out of the auction which is around the corner.

Showing much faith in the youngsters, this time around Royals might go for the fresh faces to shape up the team.

Royals keen to pick players to maintain fan-base:

Early on, the Rajasthan Royals unit has been one of the favourite teams of the crowd especially after lifting the title in the maiden edition of the IPL which further might see the inclusion of the old guards.

Talking about the rationale and questioning the procedure of the auction, the IPL franchise has the biggest purse to avail the services of premium players while their basic job would be maintaining the crore after being clear following 2013 fixing scandal case.

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