2013 Champions League T20 team preview: Rajasthan Royals

Players to watch out for:

Shane Watson: Key member of the Royals unit

Some experts feel that slogging is not necessary for a batsman to shine in T20 cricket. Batsmen with proper cricketing shots can also succeed in the shortest form of the game. There are some batsmen in the T20 circuit who prefer timing and placement rather than power and hard hitting in T20’s.

Royals’ openers, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Dravid, are the best examples of this philosophy. Both these players are not hard hitters or sloggers but prefer to play the waiting game and build an innings before cutting loose. They have been one of the most successful opening combination in IPL for the last two seasons.

Dravid, the legendary Indian batsman, has announced his retirement from T20 cricket after the upcoming CLT20. He is one of those who firmly believes that Test match players can shine in T20 cricket too. His opening partner Rahane has been in and out of the Indian team for a long time and will be looking to cement his spot in the side with some good performances in the CLT20. This opening pair sets up the platform for players like Watson, Samson, and Hodge to smash the bowlers in the back-end of the game.

For a team to succeed in T20 cricket, the balance of the team is very crucial. More than the batsmen and bowlers, all-rounders have more impact in T20s. When it comes to team balance and presence of all-rounders in the team, the Royals are no pushovers. They have four quality all rounders who can be destructive on any day. Their all-round quartet comprising of Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner and Kevon Cooper can be a threat to any opposition.

Watson, one of the greatest T20 players at present, can hit the ball miles on a consistent basis and can chip in with some crucial wickets in the crunch situations. He has been the MVP in both 2012 ICC World T20 and 2013 IPL. His countryman Faulkner and Trinidadian Cooper have similar attributes. Both are decent hitters of the cricket ball and are formidable T20 bowlers and are capable of checking the run flow even in the death overs. Both of them have a good slower ball that can create some doubts in batsman’s mind.

Stuart Binny, the son of former Indian player Roger Binny is also a key all-rounder who is consistent with the bat and good enough with the ball. Any captain would to sneak in 14-16 overs from their all rounders without the help of the regular bowlers.

Possible Playing XI: Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny , Brad Hodge, James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper, Pravin Tambe, Siddharth Trivedi, Vikramjeet Malik.

Rajasthan Royals Schedule:

Saturday 21 September v Mumbai in Jaipur

Monday 25 September v Lions in Jaipur

Sunday 27 September v Perth in Jaipur

Wednesday 02 October v Qualifier in Jaipur