3 players RR were right to release ahead of the IPL 2023 auction

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) will attempt to go one step further in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) than they did last season when they fell to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final.

RR have ₹13.2 crore to work with, which might not seem like much since they have a few holes to fill. However, the inaugural IPL champions only released players who barely featured for them in the 2022 campaign and kept hold of the entire core that gave them their best season since 2008.

Here are three players RR were right to release ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.

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#3 Rassie van der Dussen

England v South Africa - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021

Rassie van der Dussen was signed by RR towards the end of the IPL 2022 mega-auction, presumably as a backup for Shimron Hetmyer. He ended up playing three games as the Royals could afford an extra overseas batter, but his returns were poor.

Van der Dussen amassed 22 runs at a strike rate of 91.67, failing to justify his middle-order prowess. The South African missed the 2022 T20 World Cup with an injury and hasn't been in great form in other formats of late.

Even if he had produced returns similar to the ones that took him to the top of the ICC men's T20I batting rankings, RR will probably need a more dynamic batter for the lower-middle order. Van der Dussen was rightly let go.

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#2 Daryl Mitchell

New Zealand v India - 3rd ODI

Daryl Mitchell was another RR acquisition towards the end of the IPL 2022 auction as they attempted to bridge the gap between the batting and bowling departments. The Kiwi all-rounder is a utility cricketer, but he arguably isn't cut out for the IPL level.

Mitchell played two matches in IPL 2022, making 33 runs at a strike rate of 75. He also bowled two overs, which went for 27 runs. The veteran cricketer's introduction to IPL cricket didn't go to plan as RR quickly pushed him out of the playing XI.

Mitchell has made a few important contributions for New Zealand in international cricket, but his overall package - bowling, especially - doesn't set him up for success at RR.

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#1 James Neesham

New Zealand v Sri Lanka - ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Jimmy Neesham's numbers in the IPL have been nothing short of terrible. He has a career average of 8.71 over the course of 12 matches, with his strike rate of 92.42 making for dismal reading as well.

Neesham has picked up just eight wickets at an economy rate of 9.24 and his bowling has clearly become nothing more than a stop-gap solution when the frontline bowlers have been taken for runs.

Neesham has spoken about how he needs a sustained period of games to be successful in the IPL, which is something RR won't afford him. It should be pointed out that no team would readily give him an extended run, especially since he has four ducks in his last six T20I innings and no notable scores in his last 10.