IPL 2018: How each franchise might line up

#5 Rajasthan Royals

An experienced and reliable batting lineup

List of players bought by the RR at the IPL 2018 auction –

Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D'Arcy Short, Ajinkya Rahane(C), Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror

The Royals will make a comeback after two years in the IPL. The winners of the very first season will try to zero down on a balanced side as quickly as possible.

Ajinkya Rahane will lead the RR squad after Steve Smith stepped down from the skipper's position. The probable 11 for RR is as follows:

A Rahane(c); R Tripathi; S Smith; S Samson; B Stokes; J Buttler(wk); S Binny; K Gowtham; J Unadkat; D Kulkarni; J Archer.

Rajasthan Royals have a great batting lineup that includes players who can prove to be individual match-winners on their day. They have a lot of experienced batsmen in their lineup like Smith, Rahane, Stokes, Buttler, who can quickly adapt to the situation of the game and play accordingly.

They all can play according to the game and can hit big shots at their will. They also have good fast bowlers in their side like Unadkat, Kulkarni and Stokes. Jofra Archer ha not been tested in Asian conditions yet but he has a good T20 bowling record.

However, they do lack an experienced spinner in the side which can turn into a big drawback as Indian pitches are known for their spinning nature and every team seems to have at least two quality spinners. So, playing with only one spinner can prove costly for the Royals.