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Rajasthan Royals had a decent time in the 2019 IPL Auction as they managed to pull off some remarkable signings, while their main aim was to strengthen the seam department, which they did quite successfully during auctions.
Having retained most of their players, Rajasthan went into the auction in a bid to fill their voids for IPL 2019. Royals were quite clear in their bids and smartly opted in for the players who can solve the chinks in the bowling department.
Overall Rajasthan signings look quite surprising as well as fascinating. Their most expensive buy was the Jaydev Udankat. Royals bagged him for ₹ 8.4 Crore which was ₹ 3.1 Crore lesser than what they paid in 2018. Even after that Pace continued to be on their agenda, as they got Oshane Thomas and Varun Aaron for a total of ₹3.5 crores.
Rajasthan Royals 2019 Squad
Players Retained - Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, S. Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mahipal Lomror.
Players Purchased - Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Riyan Parag, Manan Vohra, Shubham Ranjane.
In total, Royals boast a quality squad for 2019 season, But there are few names which might be seen warming the bench throughout the season and could be considered as surplus to the team's requirements.
So, without much ado let's have a look at some of those players, who could be surplus during the season.
#3 Aryaman Birla
Aryaman Birla, son of business tycoon Kumar Mangalam Birla is amongst the list of 16 players who were retained by Rajasthan Royals for the next season of the Indian Premier League.
Aryaman previously represented Madhya Pradesh in U-23 cricket, In his five U23 matches, he scored 602 runs with two hundreds and a brilliant double century against Chhattisgarh. This certainly paved way for his entry in Rajasthan Royals in 2018 Auction. Though he was not considered for a single match throughout this season.
The opening batsman has been in decent form this year and was under the spotlight when he struck a majestic ton to help Madhya Pradesh snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat in a Ranji Trophy encounter against Bengal at the Eden Gardens.
Despite being in a good run of form, the young lad faces tough competition from some well-established names like Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, etc. He might find it difficult to crack into the playing XI, but can be given a chance in case to fill up to playing XI slots vacated by World Cup calls ups.
#2 Riyan Parag
Riyan Parag, Son of former Ranji player Parag Das and national record holder swimmer Mithu Baruah, is a hard-hitting batsman and a leg-break bowler who represented India in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup.
After being unsold in the initial round. The Guwahati boy was picked by Rajasthan Royals, who have a reputation of selecting young talents for their side. Ryan was the last player to claim an IPL contract this year and was picked by the franchise at his base price of ₹20 Lakhs.
The U-19 World Cup winning squad member is, however, now out of cricket because of injury. He has already missed a couple of Ranji Trophy ties and is still uncertain of further participation. Though in his short List A career, The young lad has managed 413 runs at an average of 27.53, with his best performance being 82. While in bowling, he picked 11 wickets in 12 outings and has an economy rate of 5.57.
However, he might not get any chance to feature in the lineup and might be considered as surplus due to the plethora of good all-rounders Royals possess in their squad.
#1 Shashank Singh
Shashank Singh came into the limelight during the 2016-17 Interstate T20 tournament where he represented the Mumbai side against Saurashtra. He scored an unbeaten 47 runs off 22 balls while sharing a 102-run stand for the sixth wicket with Abhishek Nayar.
Shashank was bought by the Delhi Daredevils team at the 2017 Indian Premier League auctions.
However, the all-rounder was not able to crack his place into the Playing XI and later, was released by the franchise. This year Royals secured his services for ₹30 Lacks.
Though Shashank Singh did not have a bright season for Mumbai in List A cricket, his all-round ability and recent club-record especially in the DY Patil T20 Cup might be a reason behind his purchase during the auctions. In this format, the batsman posses an incredible strike rate of 149.75, which is enough to prove his big hitting ability.
Royals currently have Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Rahul Tripathi etc. all of whom are ahead of Shashank in the pecking order for selection.
