IPL 2018 Auctions: Decoding Rajasthan Royals' performance and predictions for Day 2

The much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions were underway in Bangalore today (27th January). A total of 109 players went under the hammer and out of those 78 of them were bought by various (eight) franchises.

Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two years and there wasn’t a lot of hype around their return as much as Chennai Super Kings’ return. However, they had quite a few smart buys and were pretty active at the auction.

Let’s analyse Rajasthan Royal’s day at the auction table.

Players bought in the Auction

Stokes was the most expensive player of the day and RR have got him for 12.5 crores.

Rajasthan Royals started off the day on a bright note, bagging two players from the marquee list. However, as the day progressed, they bailed out of quite a few bids as the players went out of their budget. Nonetheless, they still managed to buy 8 players in the auction today.

These are the players that will play for Rajasthan Royals this season:

Ben Stokes – 12.5 crore, Ajinkya Rahane – 4 crore (RTM), Stuart Binny – 50 lakh, Jos Buttler – 4.4 crore, Sanju Samson – 8 crore, Rahul Tripathi – 3.4 crore, D'Arcy Short - 4 cr, Jofra Archer - 7.2 crore.

Decoding RR’s buys

Rahane will be back in the Rajasthan Royals colours.

With limited choices available, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) retained only Steve Smith (for 12.5 crore) and thus, they were looking to start afresh this year.

Ben Stokes was the first player bought by the Jaipur-based franchise. Even though there was a lot of speculation around the Durham allrounder’s availability (as he is currently involved in a court case for a midnight brawl that broke out in Bristol), it was predicted that teams would go hard for him. And it was at 12.5 crores, RR managed to buy him.

Stokes who played under Smith’s captaincy for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) last year and was brilliant. 316 run at a strike rate of over 140 and 12 wickets in 12 games is a superb record. Thus, Ben Stokes (who was paid 14 crore last year) looks an excellent buy.

It was predicted that Ajinkya Rahane would be retained using the Right To Match (RTM) card, but it really depended on the bid he goes for. However, at 4 crore Rahane is an absolute steal. He is very good form, can act as the vice-captain of the team, is superb in the field and opens the batting. Thus, Rahane is back to his old franchise and will look to continue his good form.

RR’s next buy was Stuart Binny who was a part of the Rajasthan franchise for 5 years (from 2011 to 2015) and he was pretty good for a couple of years (2013 and 2014) where he scored runs in the middle order and bowled when the team needed. Hence, the Karnataka all-rounder was bought at 50 lakh.

One of the best buys at the auction for RR was that of Jos Buttler. The explosive England wicketkeeper was bought at 4.4 crore. He has had a couple of good IPL seasons. In 24 games (of his IPL career), he has scored 527 runs at a strike-rate of 145.98 and also, he is in some very good form with the bat.

The Royals have invested heavily in youngsters. They have gone out and spent 8 crore to obtain the services of Kerala wicketkeeper Sanju Samson who first shot into the limelight playing for RR.

There were a couple of well-known foreign uncapped players that were bought by the Royals – D'Arcy Short and Jofra Archer. Both of them have been very good in the ongoing Big Bash League (in Australia). Archer’s all-around ability has been one of the talking points of the BBL this year. Thus, he is a very good buy.

RR also bought uncapped Indian opener, Rahul Tripathi who had a wonderful season last year playing for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) - he scored 391 runs in IPL 10.

Analysis

Smith and Stokes did well together playing for RPS last season.

This Rajasthan Royals team this year will most likely be led by Steve Smith. Thus, it is not surprising to see, the RR think-tank to go back to the players that did well last season for RPS under Smith’s captaincy. With players like Rahane, Stokes and Tripathi having gelled well with Smith, the team is taking nice shape.

Sanju Samson is an exciting player who has done well in the IPL. Jos Butler and Jofra Archer are very good picks as they are limited-overs specialists. D’Arcy Short is another exciting player who is in good form.

What RR need to do tomorrow?

The core of the Rajasthan Royals looks set. They’ve got 3 openers and 3 allrounders to go with a couple of middle-order batsmen.

At the moment, the team needs to invest in bowlers. Currently, only Jofra Archer is a full-time bowler in their squad. Thus, they need target a few Indian and foreign pacers. RR haven’t bought any spinners yet as well and hence they will look to buy at least two or three spinners tomorrow.

Also, with 5 foreigners already in the squad and 4 of them being batsmen, the RR think-tank will need to target Indian batsmen as well.

Hence, all in all, RR need about 3-4 batsmen, and 3-4 fast bowlers and at least a couple of spinners. With a purse of 23.5 crore remaining, it will be interesting to see who they target tomorrow.