IPL 2014: Rajasthan Royals' ideal playing XI

A lot is expected from Sanju Samson this season

At a time when the media is abuzz with the highest windfalls clinched in the IPL Auctions, a certain team managed to build a strong squad away from all the attention. Rajasthan Royals have played their auction moves well with a lot of good buys within their budget. With Rahul Dravid as their mentor, they look all set to repeat their maiden season feat in this edition of the extravaganza. The retention of key players-Ainkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner and Sanju Samson had helped ease out their buying dilemma.

Let us do a comparative analysis of squads of 2013 and 2014

Role	2013	2014
Batsman	Brad Hodge	Brad Hodge
	Ajankya Rahane	Ajankya Rahane
	Rahul Dravid	Unmukt Chand
	Owais Shah	Karun Nair
	Sachin Baby
	Ankeet Chavan (withdrawn)
All-rounders	Shane Watson	Shane Watson
	James Faulkner	James Faulkner
	Stuart Binny	Stuart Binny
	Kevon Cooper	Kevon Cooper
	Ashok Menaria	Steven Smith
		Rajat Bhatia
		Abhishek Nayar
		Ben Cutting
Wicket-Keeper Bat	Sanju Samson	Sanju Samson
	Dishant Yagnik	Dishant Yagnik
	Kusal Perera	Ankush Bains
	Shreevats Goswami
Spinners	Pravin Tambe	Pravin Tambe
	Bradd Hogg	Iqbal Abdullah
	A Chandila	Ankit Sharma
	S Badree
	Harmeet Singh
Fast bowlers	Shaun Tait	Tim Southee
	Siddharth Trivedi	Dhaval Kulkarni
	Vikramjeet Malik	Vikramjeet Malik
	S Sreesanth (withdrawn)	Kane Richardson
	Fidel Edwards	Deepak Hooda
		Amit Mishra

Interestingly, they have managed to increase the depth in each department by some well-thought buys- which include a big pool of street smart all-rounders. Undoubtedly, Steven Smith and Tim Southee are the biggest fish netted this season. Southee will have the onus in absence of Tait and Edwards, although he looks less likely to get a game straightaway.

The probable eleven that they might field can be:

Top three (1, 2)

Watson and Rahane have opened before, and both have had success in piling up runs at the top. If Sanju Samson opens, Rahane or Watson will go down to strengthen the middle order. The team think-tank might not experiment beyond these three initially.

Middle order (4,5,6)

A lot of options are available this season. Steven Smith and Brad Hodge are certainties. Unmukt Chand might get a look in at no.6 as RR can’t afford to play more than four foreign players, so out of the large pool of all-rounders-only Faulkner, Watson and Smith will make the initial cut,with Hodge completing the quota of 4 foreign players.

Lower batting order (7,8)

Faulkner and Binny will provide the firepower at these positions, with their big hitting abilities and a potential to take away games in a couple of overs.

Bowling department (9,10,11)

The plethora of all-rounders would mean less pressure on frontline bowlers to take wickets. The ‘Four foreign player restricion’ would mean Tim Southee sitting out of a few matches. Pravin Tambe will make it to the starting eleven as lead spinner in absence of the veteran Hogg. The fast bowling unit might consist of Dhaval Kulkarni and Rajat Bhatia or Deepak Hooda/Amit Mishra as the surprise exclusion in the eleven.

Probable starting eleven