IPL preview: Rajasthan Royals

The Rajasthan Royals are often referred to as the 'Moneyball' team of the Indian Premier League and it’s not without reason.

They are known to not go for those players whose price during the auction escalates to beyond what they find acceptable and prefer getting the best out of the relatively lower-key names. 

It was under the tutelage of Shane Warne that they won the first ever edition of the Indian Premier League but they haven't been able to replicate that performance since then.

In the following four seasons, they failed to finish in the top five before Rahul Dravid took them to the playoffs in 2013. Allegations of spot-fixing against some of their players before a key knock-out game ended their hopes of going the distance that season and they narrowly missed qualification for the playoffs last year.

The presence of Dravid as mentor adds tremendous value to the side and coach Paddy Upton will appreciate the role he plays in pushing hard to get the best out of the team. Australian allrounder Shane Watson will hope he can push on from where he had left off in the World Cup quarter-final win against Pakistan and lead his team to another final four spot.

Some of the key domestic players in the side are of Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Dhawal Kulkarni and Stuart Binny, although none of them can be termed as genuine superstars of Indian cricket just yet.

They should also benefit from the wise choices they made at previous auctions when it came to their overseas talent, which means the likes of Steven Smith, James Faulkner and Tim Southee - all of whom featured in the final of the World Cup - will be at the Royals this year.

Strengths
The number of allrounders in the side gives the Rajasthan Royals excellent depth as far as their playing XI is concerned. Whichever way they select their starting XI, five or six of them could double up as batting or bowling allrounders - the likes of Watson, Faulkner, Smith, Nayar, Binny and Bhatia can be expected to do one those tasks well and the other at an acceptable enough pedigree to be termed an allrounder at this level of cricket.

Weaknesses
Interestingly, Rajasthan will not be playing any of their games at their home ground at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, with Motera in Ahmedabad and the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai hosting their matches this season. That could be a factor given Rajasthan’s record in Jaipur is second to none in recent times. 

It's difficult enough to play home games away from one’s real home, but to do that over two venues almost pushes it into the realms of it being an advantage. It could get tough adjusting to this factor.

Predicted Finish
The Royals could find it difficult to make the playoffs unless one of their big-ticket players like Watson, Smith or Rahane can find the kind of form that can last the entire duration of the tournament.

Squad
Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Nayar, Ben Cutting, Ankit Nagendra Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Deepak Hooda, James Faulkner, Dishant Yagnik, Karun Nair, Rahul Tewatia, Pravin Tambe, Sanju Samson, Rajat Bhatia, Stuart Binny, Steven Smith, Vikramjeet Malik, Tim Southee, Juan Theron, Chris Morris, Dinesh Salunkhe, Barinder Singh Saran, Pardeep Sahu, Sagar Trivedi

Coach: Paddy Upton
Mentor: Rahul Dravid
Assistant coach: Monty Desai
Director of cricket: Zubin Bharucha
Physiotherapist: John Gloster
Team manager: Arjun Dev
Logistics manager: Romi Bhinder
Team Analyst: Panish Shetty

IPL Season Previews

• Chennai Super Kings
• Delhi Daredevils
• Kings Xi Punjab
• Kolkata Knight Riders
• Mumbai Indians
• Rajasthan Royals
• Royal Challengers Bangalore
• Sunrisers Hyderabad