IPL 2023 Auction: 4 Players Rajasthan Royals (RR) Can Target. Rajasthan Royals, the first champions of this valiant league known as the Indian Premier League, have struggled since their first title win. Even their next playoff qualification made their fans wait for a long time—14 editions—until they qualified for the playoffs in IPL 2022.
Skipper Sanju Samson took his team to a replay final in 2022, just the franchise’s second qualification into the finals since their title win under spinning wizard Shane Warne’s captaincy.
Despite many good players on the side, RR had to face a deplorable defeat at the hands of the debutante Gujarat Titans. However, this season, RR will be targeting a few players in IPL 2023 mini-auction to fill in the little voids in their lineup.
Let’s take a look at the four players that RR could target ahead of the 2022 mini-auction which will be held in Kochi (Kerala) 0on December 23rd. RR has a remaining purse of 13.2 crores.
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4. Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes is undoubtedly the best all-rounder in modern-day cricket, and any team would want him on their side. The Englishman was one of the main architects of England’s victory in the T20 World Cup 2022. Stokes has 585 runs and 26 wickets in 43 T20I appearances.
He has even impressed everyone with his substantial performance in the IPL, where he has 920 runs and 28 wickets up his sleeve. Stokes is one of those batters in modern-day cricket who can play a great role in building up a total and also in guiding his side to victory.
The Royals would be in search of a good-looking middle-order batsman, and Ben Stokes is ideal for the cause. Stokes is also a handy bowler to deliver economical overs in the middle overs and sometimes even with the new ball. Though the Royals’ bank isn’t particularly deep, they’d be willing to go all-in on Stokes.
3. Sam Curran
Another Englishman and another equal adversary of Stokes in this year’s mini-auction have a greater hand in England’s victory. Curran was named the man of the match in the finals and the man of the tournament in the last T20 World Cup of 2022.
The youngster has impressed all cricket fans with his improved skillful bowling over the last two years of T20I. Curran has 41 T20I wickets, of which 26 came this year in his last 19 appearances for England and 13 of which came in the T20 World Cup.
The Royals have felt helpless with their fifth bowling option despite having a strong team, and they would be in the hunt for a proper fifth bowling option. With Curran on their side, they can have a greater hand at the death overs as the Royals have failed to control the flow of runs toward the end of the inning. The Royals would try to make the maximum offer possible for Curran and get him into the squad.
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2. Manish Pandey
The ex-LSG batter is in the middle order for Karnataka to have had a successful domestic season, scoring nearly 250 runs in 7 innings for the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.
Manish Pandey is also one of the most experienced players in the league, having played in many league matches over the years alongside 39 T20I caps for India. The ex-RCB, KKR, and SRH man have 3648 runs in 160 matches at an average of 30. Manish was the first Indian batter to score an IPL century (114 runs out of 73 balls for the RCB in 2009).
Pandey shows his immense class by having scored more than 6500 runs in the T20 format across various tournaments. Rajasthan can use him in their middle order both as a first-choice player at 4-5 or as a replacement for his colleague in the State team, Devdutt Padikkal.
Now with not a huge purse left with them, the Royals have to keep some quality low-profile players on their side, and Manish Pandey is undoubtedly the best contender for the spot.
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1. Vidhwath Kaverappa
Vidhwath Kaverappa plays for Karnataka in the domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He has been in good form in this year’s tournament, picking up 18 wickets in 8 matches at an average and strike rate both just fractions above 10.
This sizzling form of the medium pacer might be put to good use by the Royals side, who have Malinga as their bowling coach, and under him, Kaverappa can prove to be a handsome pick for the RR side.
RR does have a promising set of four irreplaceable main bowlers, but Kaverappa can be the perfect backup for these frontline four and also a replacement for Krishna in case he fails to deliver for the Royals.