Aakash Chopra, the former Indian cricketer has advised the Rajasthan Royals not to spend a lot of money on inexperienced players in the upcoming auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022).
The cricketer-turned-commentator made these remarks while speaking on his YouTube channel. Rajasthan Royals had a pretty bad outing in the 2020 edition of IPL. With six wins and eight losses, they finished the season at the bottom in the points table. They fared slightly better in IPL 2021 with a 7th place finish with 10 points.
Aakash Chopra: Rajasthan Royals Have Erred In Spending Money On Inexperienced Cricketers In IPL
Aakash Chopra emphasized how the franchise has often spent huge sums of money in the past to rope in unproven campaigners. He believes that they should change their strategy this time around.
Aakash Chopra said: “Rajasthan Royals have erred in spending money on inexperienced players in the past. They also have a tendency to pick a lot of England players in their side. If they are going to spend as much money as the other franchises, then they must go after big names.”
The Rajasthan Royals have retained three players ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. Sanju Samson (INR 14 crores), Jos Buttler (INR 10 crores) and Yashavi Jaiswal (INR 4 crores) were announced as their three picks for the forthcoming season of the cash-rich league. One of the biggest surprises, somewhat shocks, of the entire IPL 2022 Retention process was the exclusion of pacer Jofra Archer and all-rounder Ben Stokes from the list of players retained.
Aakash Chopra: Rajasthan Royals’ Retentions Were Spot On
Aakash Chopra added that the Rajasthan-based franchise has done a fine job with their retentions. This is why he feels that they do not need to target players like Shreyas Iyer or Ishan Kishan in the auction.
Aakash Chopra said: “Their retentions are spot on. This will be one franchise that will not go after Shreyas Iyer or Ishan Kishan because there is no need for those players in their side.”
The Rajasthan Royals are left with a purse of INR 62 crores. The IPL 2022 auction is set to be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. A total of 590 cricketers are set to go under the hammer in the two-day event.
The likes of Steve Smith, Ankit Rajpoot, Oshane Thomas, Varun Aaron, Tom Curran, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Andrew Tye, Jaydev Unadkat, David Miller and Robin Uthappa were released by Rajasthan Royals before IPL 2021 and IPL 2022.