Picture : IPL / X
Having won the title in the inaugural year in 2008 under the late Aussie leg spin legend Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals have always begun well in the tournament only to lose steam towards the critical end . That has been their undoing off- late. RR will hope to address this issue . RR finished 3rd last year. RR beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator by four wickets but lost to SRH in Qualifier 2.
Led by the talented Sanju Samson ( who has recovered from injury) it has depth in batting with Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag. There are other who could play cameos – young Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Dhruv Jurel, Yudhvir Singh
A wicket-keeper batter by nature 🫡
A Royal by heart 🩷Captain @IamSanjuSamson is all geared up to ‘𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘭’ in #TATAIPL 2025 with the @rajasthanroyals 💪 pic.twitter.com/jT00iAejpG
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 19, 2025
The bowling line- up looks penetrative with the likes of Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana , Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma, Sandeep Sharma.
Former India head coach and batting legend Rahul Dravid returns to the helm as head coach in RR a stunt he had done before. Dravid in- fact played for the Royals. So RR is happy place for The Wall. There is the genial Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara who is the Director of cricket.
Retained Players : Sanju Samson Yashasvi Jaiswal Riyan Parag Dhruv Jurel Shimron Hetmyer Sandeep Sharma.
