IPL 2018: Five Players Who Can Replace Steven Smith As Rajasthan Royals’ Captain

Apr 5, 2018 at 8:49 PM

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IPL 2018: Five Players Who Can Replace Steven Smith As Rajasthan Royals’ Captain

The Sandpaper Gate that aired during the third day’s play between South Africa and Australia has put Steven Smith’s captaincy in danger for the upcoming IPL season.

There are high chances of the franchise sacking him as captain and giving the role to some other player.

Here is a list of players could replace Smith as the captain of Rajasthan Royals:

Ajinkya Rahane celebrates a ton.

Ajinkya Rahane – The name of Ajinkya Rahane for the vice-captain was in the race and now, there could be a case when he might lead the side.

Rahane, team India’s Test vice-captain, seems to be an automatic replacement to replace Smith.

He has not led an IPL team till now and if appointed as captain, this will be the first time when he will lead a team in IPL.

Rahane was the member of the Rising Pune Supergiant that ended the tourney as runner-up last year under Steven Smith.

Rahane has an experience of playing 111 IPL matches in which he has scored 3057 runs at 33.59.

He was retained by the franchise on the auction day for an amount of Rs 4 Crore by the use of Right to Match (RTM) card.

Ben Stokes – The England all-rounder is cleared to play IPL and will play a major part of the league.

He is one of the strongest contenders to take up the job of the captain.

Just like last year, he shone in the auction and bagged the highest pay cheque.

Rajasthan Royals snared him for an amount of Rs 12.50 Crore.

One of the factors which could see Stokes not getting the job that he will have an early exit from IPL.

England will play Pakistan in two-match Test series in May/June, which will mean that few of the England players will leave IPL early.

This could really see Rajasthan Royals preventing themselves from giving the job to Stokes.

Sanju Samson – Once touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Samson has now gone behind may of the young players in the race.

Still, he is one of the best players and the chances of Rajasthan Royals banking on him can’t be ruled out.

Before IPL 2014, Samson was retained by the franchise on the basis of just one IPL and CPL season.

Samson has an experience of leading in domestic cricket as well.

He has led Kerala in Ranji Trophy and also led the Board President’s XI squad against visiting Sri Lanka last year in the practice game.

He was purchased by the franchise for a huge amount of Rs 8 Crore.

Rahul Tripathi – One of the finds of IPL 2017, Tripathi though is not a strong contender for the job but his name cannot be ruled out.

He has experience of leading a side in domestic cricket s well.

He was the captain of Maharashtra that qualified for the semi-final of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017/18.

Tripathi was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 3.40 Crore in the auction.

Jos Butler applause's fans.

Jos Buttler – England’s wicketkeeper-batsman, Jos Buttler, may not be one of the contenders for the job but his international experience will keep him ahead of Samson and Tripathi.

Should the franchise think of not putting pressure on Rahane, Buttler can always pick up the charge of the team.

He possesses a strike-rate of 142.80 in 213 T20 matches he has played and is a proven player.

On the other hand, the pressure of captaincy can come down on Samson and Tripathi, which the franchise would not like.

Buttler, who has played 18 Tests, 109 ODIs and 61 T20Is, was purchased by the franchise for an amount of Rs 4.40 Crore.

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