Rajasthan Royals (RR) will kick off their Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) campaign on April 2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. The Royals are still searching for their second title after winning the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008 under the guidance of the legendary Shane Warne. They finished last season as runners-up after impressive outings throughout the campaign. They won nine out of their 14 group-stage games but lost to Gujarat Titans in the final.
Ahead of the IPL 2023, the Sanju Samson-led side retained the core group of players and further strengthened their side with quality reinforcements. They procured the services of Jason Holder, Joe Root, Adam Zampa, and Murugan Ashwin at the 2023 player auction.
RR have Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, with Devdutt Padikkal, skipper Sanju Samson, West Indian batter Shimron Hetmyer, and Riyan Parag completing the explosive batting line-up.
Butler and Samson scored more than 1300 runs combined last season. The Englishman won the Orange cap with more than 800 runs.
RR have a strong contingent of spin bowlers with Zampa being added to the existing duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin. They scalped 39 wickets together in their debut season for the franchise.
Chahal was bought for ₹6.5 crore in the 2022 mega auction. He won the purple cap last season with 27 wickets in 17 games. Ashwin had an all-round contribution as he bagged 12 wickets at an economy of 7.5 and scored almost 200 runs as well.
Rajasthan will have to deal with a big blow as Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna has been ruled out of the season with a back injury. He was the leading seam wicket-taker for the franchise with 19 wickets in IPL 2022. IPL veteran Sandeep Sharma has been brought in as his replacement.
Krishna’s absence has left a big hole in Rajasthan’s seam bowling attack ahead of the IPL 2023. The speedster combined well with Trent Boult to produce one of the best pace duos in the league last year as they bagged a combined 35 wickets. Kuldeep Sen was impressive last season with eight wickets from seven innings and was later rewarded with a national team call-up. But apart from Sen and Boult, Royals lack a quality pacer this season.
Rajasthan did not have enough all-round options last year with Parag and Ashwin being the only regulars in the team. Although they have recruited Holder in the auction, they still lack a world-class all-rounder.
One of KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin and Sandeep Sharma might be used as the impact player in the playing XI.
RR predicted XI vs SRH
Openers: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Middle Order: Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer.
All-Rounders: Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder.
Bowlers: Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, Kuldeep Sen.
