After releasing 11 players ahead of the auction, Rajasthan Royals bought an equal number of players in the auction, which also included Jaydev Unadkat. The left-arm pacer had twice, in 2018 and 2019 auction, hogged the limelight with his selling price. This time, RR got him for Rs 3 Crore and he turned out to be the most expensive bid of the day for RR.
The franchise also acquired the services of Robin Uthappa at the same price. The right-handed opening batsman had been associated with Kolkata Knight Riders since IPL 2014 and was elevated to the vice-captain’s post in 2018 but was released ahead of IPL 2020. Uthappa was expected to attract a handsome amount in the auction and he was sold for a big price.
India U-19 opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal turned out to be one of the biggest gainers as he was sold for Rs 2.40 Crore. It remains to be seen whether he will get a chance to open the innings with Jos Buttler or will the team management choose Uthappa as the preferred option.
Kartik Tyagi, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Anirudha Ahok Joshi and Akash Singh were other players to be bought by Rajasthan Royals.
As the franchise had confirmed, Steven Smith will lead the side right from the start of the league next year. He replaced Ajinkya Rahane as RR’s captain mid-season.
The franchise, ahead of the auction, traded Rahane to Delhi Capitals and Krishnappa Gowtham to Kings XI Punjab. They roped in Mayank Markande and Rahul Tewatia from Delhi Capitals while Ankit Rajpoot also joined Rajasthan from KXIP.
Squad: Steven Smith (Captain), Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ankit Rajpoot, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Oshane Thomas, Anirudha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, Shashank Singh, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Anuj Rawat