The Cricketer's quickfire look at the Royals ahead of the 2022 season
Captain: Sanju Samson
Coach: Kumar Sangakkara
How did they do last year: 7th
Overseas headliner?
With the bat, Jos Buttler: England’s explosive opening batter who averages 35.14 and has a strike rate of 150 in the IPL.
With the ball, Trent Boult: only Deepak Chahar has taken more powerplay wickets than the New Zealander (27) across the past four seasons.
Indian superstar?
Yuzvendra Chahal – the 31-year-old was the leading wicket-taker among spinners in 2021, picking up 18 wickets at 20.77 and conceding 7.05 runs per over for RCB. Expect wickets during the middle overs from the leggie.
Biggest strength?
Rajasthan Royals have an imposing top four of young Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal - scorer of 884 runs across two seasons with RCB – and captain Sanju Samson.
Further down the order, they have a plethero of overseas power-hitters, including Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Jimmy Neesham, and Daryl Mitchell.
Where’s the weakness?
Trent Boult is isolated in the pace attack, with Nathan Coulter-Nile and Obed McCoy unlikely to snare one of the overseas slots in the XI, and unlike at Mumbai Indians, he doesn’t have a player like Jasprit Bumrah to partner him with the new ball.
They also look light in the death bowling department.
Squad: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, R Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, Jimmy Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell
Likely starting XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson, Rassie van der Dussen, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Naveep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Pasidh Krishna
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