IPL Auction 2020: Grading each franchise based on their performance

#7 Rajasthan Royals - Auction Grade: C

Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa(3 Cr), Unadkat(3 Cr), Yashasvi Jaiswal(2.4 Cr), Anuj Rawat(80 Lac), Akash Singh(20 Lac), Kartik Tyagi(1.3 Cr), David Miller(75 Lac), Oshane Thomas(50 Lac), Aniruddha Joshi(20 Lac), Andrew Tye(2 Cr), Tom Curran(1 Cr)

It wasn't shocking to see that the Rajasthan Royals had released a ton of players before the 2019 IPL auction but it surprised everyone when they traded longtime fan-favourite Ajinkya Rahane to the Delhi Capitals.

While the overseas batting contingent comprising of Steven Smith, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes is second to none the departure Rahane did leave a void in the batting line up and the Royals think-tank knew they needed to buy an experienced hand in the auction. They did so by snapping former Kolkata Knight Rider Robin Uthappa for a sum of 3 Cr. Uthappa will most probably be asked to open the innings alongside Buttler.

The Royals' strategy of buying 3 overseas pacers whilst also having the retained Jofra Archer in their squad is quite confusing. For a 2nd consecutive year, Rajasthan bought Jaydev Unadkat after releasing him into the auction pool, this time for a much more reasonable price of 3 Crore.

Royals also invested heavily in Indian U19 players acquiring the services of hard-hitting left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal and pacer Kartik Tyagi for sums of 2.4 crores and 1.3 crores respectively.

Apart from the questionable strategy of buying 3 overseas pacers, the Royals have also failed to replace Krishnappa Gowtham with another off-spinner and to add more confusion to their strategy they traded in 2 leg-spinners(Rahul Tewatia and Mayank Markande) while also retaining a couple of them(Shreyas Gopal and Riyan Parag) before the auction.