IPL 2018: 3 teams that lack squad depth

#2 Rajasthan Royals

RR bagged the two most expensive players in the 2018 auctions

First Choice Playing XI: Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith (c), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Stuart Binny, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jofra Archer

Batting: Out of all the resources that RR own, only D'Arcy Short looks reliable and even he is yet to play an IPL game. An injury to one of their Indian batsmen would push RR to change their whole combination. Moreover, over-reliance on overseas players will mean they cannot play both Short and Buttler together.

Bowling: Ben Laughlin is the only reliable backup option that RR have. An ordinary Dushmantha Chameera and Anureet Singh are the other reserves. However, the spin-tank looks decent with Ankit Sharma & Afghan chinaman Zahir Khan Pakteen as the bench-men.

All-rounder: Royals are so dependant on their first eleven that they have the best all-rounder in the world in Ben Stokes but no back-up. They can only hope for him to remain fit throughout.