IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals Squad Analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses & Season Prediction

Despite being the champions in the first season of the IPL, Rajasthan Royals have, over the years, emerged as the team with a lower winning ratio as compared to some of the other prominent teams. They do have three playoff performances under their belt, but never gave the confidence of going the distance in those seasons. In a nutshell, Rajasthan has been the team that packs a punch for small durations, and crumbles under pressure against the big names. With the IPL 2020 around the corner, there are fresh expectations from them, but their fans also clearly know what to expect and what not.

DOWNLOAD FULL IPL 2020 SCHEDULE

Strengths

It doesn't look like Rajasthan possess a great batting unit, or an excellent bowling side, but just seem to have the right combination of players to do the job. Of course there would be presence of quality foreign players like Jos Buttler, Steve Smith and David Miller, but the core of the team lies in its youngsters, who would be looking to make a mark for themselves. Yashaswi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag and Kartik Tyagi -- all products of U-19 World Cups, would look to perform to the best of their abilities and win some matches for their side. 

Weaknesses

Royals have a lot of problems to deal with even before the start of the tournament. Heavily reliant on English and Australian stars, the team might miss their presence in the first few matches, since players from both the teams are currently playing a series in England. To top it all, there is still no clarity as to when Ben Stokes will join the team. He is in New Zealand currently, with his family, due to his father's ill health. That means that Rajasthan will be sans their regular skipper -- Steve Smith -- in these matches. It will be interesting to see who leads the side in his absence. 

Apart from that, their bowling unit consists of some good overseas players, but doesn't instill the confidence of a champion bowling side. Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Varun Aaron and Jaydev Unadkat might be good on their day, but the attack does lack some firepower. 

IPL 2019 Performance

Royals finished seventh out of eight teams last year, winning just five games.

Highest Run-scorer - Ajinkya Rahane (393)

Highest Wicket-taker - Shreyas Gopal (20)

Notable Purchases in IPL Auction 2020

Once again Rajasthan invested heavily in youth and their most prominent buys were U-19 stars Yashaswi Jaiswak and Kartik Tyagi. Also they got South African star David Miller to their ranks to bolster their batting.

History in IPL

It hasn't been smooth going for RR after winning the title in 2008. They finished in the bottom half of the table on six occasions, while making it to playoffs just three times. 

ALSO READ - IPL 2020: KXIP Squad Analysis, Strengths, Weaknesses & Season Prediction

Chance/ Prediction in IPL 2020

Expect nothing big from Royals in 2020 edition. They do have some great players in their ranks, so watch out for them. You might just see a player from their side make it to the Indian team soon -- as happens so often.

Rajasthan Royals Squad: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Robin Uthappa, Shashank Singh, Steven Smith, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ben Stokes, Mahipal Lomror, Shreyas Gopal, Tom Curran, Anuj Rawat, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Akash Singh, Andrew Tye, Aniruddha Joshi, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat, Jofra Archer, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markande, Oshane Thomas, Rahul Tewatia, Varun Aaron