IPL 2022: SWOT Analysis of Rajasthan Royals (RR)

With the IPL 2022 commencement date now finalized, we are not too far from the 15th edition of the mega event kickstarting. The tournament will get underway on March 26 and all 10 teams would be raring to go, having invested a lot of time, money and effort in building their respective squads. Every new season of the tournament presents the teams with a brand-new chance at attaining glory and lifting the coveted trophy.

One such team who would be wanting to make the most of this fresh start is the Rajasthan Royals. The champions of the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 have been underwhelming with their performance for the majority of their time in the tournament ever since. However, the mega auction has ensured the franchises could start afresh and build a squad from scratch. RR started their IPL 2022 endeavour by retaining Skipper, Sanju Samson (Rs 14 crore), Jos Buttler (Rs 10 crore) and Yashaswi Jaiswal (Rs 4 crore) pre-auction.

They then went on to make their buys at the auction table. The highest they spent was Rs 10 crore on Indian fast bowler, Prasidh Krishna. They also spent heavily on West Indian batter, Shimron Hetmyer, shelling out Rs 8.50 crore for him. In Trent Boult (Rs 8 crore), Devdutt Padikkal (Rs 7.75 crore), Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 6.50 crore) and R Ashwin (Rs 5 crore) they formed their core. RR also roped in the experienced Nathan Coulter-Nile for Rs 2 crore and young Indian cricketer Riyan Parag for Rs 3.80 crore amongst the other buys spending a total of Rs 61.05 crore in building their squad.

Here’s the full Rajasthan Royals squad:

Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell

Here’s the SWOT analysis of the Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2022

Strengths: Power-packed batting order

In the likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag, Rajasthan Royals possess a cracking batting order. Buttler is arguably one of the finest white-ball cricketers going around at this time. The explosive batter has a wide variety of strokeplay and packs a punch with his big-hitting. England’s limited over’s vice-captain, Buttler, is exceptional facing up to quality pace and is more than capable of smashing spin bowling equally well.

In Samson, the Royals have a player who has been with the franchise right from the beginning of his IPL career, barring two seasons elsewhere when the franchisee was previously suspended. The talented Indian batter is mighty pleasing to the eye when on song. He is as elegant as they come. The intent with which the Kerala-born cricketer plays can take away the game from the opposition in no time. Samson with his gifted timing has already won several games for RR single-handedly with the bat and has done it at a quick rate.

Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag round the core of the Royals middle-order batting. While the West Indian cricketer strikes at a rate of knots when in full flow and can hit those huge sixes, Parag has shown glimpses of being a potential finisher for the side. Parag has played some gems for the team in their previous seasons, which went a long way in the franchisee buying him back off the auctions.