IPL 2022: Predicted Opening Pair Of Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Rajasthan Royals bought 21 players in the IPL to go with the three they had retained ahead of the auction. Sanju Samson will continue to lead the side as they added names like Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Daryl Mitchell were some of the few crucial players that the team picked during the auction. Prasidh Krishna with Rs. 10 crore was the team’s most expensive player in the auction.

The franchise retained Sanju Samson for 14 crores, Jos Buttler for 10 crores, and Yashasvi Jaiswal for 4 crores heading into the mega auction. Overall the squad looks well-rounded and have a lot of bases covered. The Royals over the years lacked a reputed spinner and a pacer in their ranks. With Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in their ranks they have got the bowling attack sorted as well.

As far as their batting line-up is concerned, Jos Buttler will be open the batting. He has been very successful up at the top for the Royals. Alongside him, for the second opener’s role, the franchise has a few good options. In this article, we take a look at the best possible opening combination for the Royals ahead of IPL 2022.

IPL 2022: Predicted Opening Pair Of Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler

Buttler will be one of the four overseas players in the playing XI. He has a reputation of being a T20 specialist at the international level and has proved his mettle in the IPL as well. Buttler is one of the most destructive T20 batsman when on song. He has scored 1441 runs in 41 matches for Rajasthan Royals including one century and 10 fifty-plus scores. An in-form Buttler throughout IPL 2022 would be a real blessing for the Royals.

Devdutt Padikkal / Yashasvi Jaiswal

Padikkal can be an ideal foil for Buttler. He has different gears to his game and can perfectly complement the England international. Padikkal had a 400-plus run season in his very first year in the IPL. He scored 473 runs in 2020 and was awarded the Emerging Player Of The Season award. He backed it up with a 411-run season in IPL 2021. Courtesy of his consistent performances he also made his T20I debut for India in 2021.

The franchise also has Yashasvi Jaiswal in their ranks but he has not proved himself enough to get a look in ahead of Padikkal. The Mumbai cricketer has scored 289 runs in 13 matches so far for the Royals with just one fifty to his name. It will be interesting to see whether the franchise prefers Padikkal or Jaiswal alongside Buttler.

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