2009 Record: Sixth 2008 Record: Champions
Squad: Shane Warne (captain), Swapnil Asnodkar, Johan Botha, Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, Michael Lumb, Damien Martyn, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Morne Morkel, Sumit Narwal, Naman Ojha, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Paunikar, Syed Ahmed Quadri, Abhishek Raut, Amit Singh, Graeme Smith, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Shrikant Wagh.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
The return to home conditions this third season of the IPL will surely play to their strengths once again. Shane Warne is a shrewd man and he will know that the confidence he inspired in his team two seasons ago was mostly down to the same reason. Now that they are back, all he needs to do is revise his pep talks from 2008 and get the adrenaline pumping again. Only this time he can add to it by saying that the title that was theirs has been taken away.
It is a side that has a lot riding on its foreign players. But that is true for any side in the IPL. What stands them apart is the fact that they need their young guns to fire if they are to do well. And that is a heavy ask if they cannot find any form. But that shouldn’t really be a problem for they have endured a hard domestic season and are more or less aware of where they stand. T20 should help them feed off their learning and it could be an event to watch out for the youngsters from Rajasthan.
The other highlight would be two Australian players in the side apart from Warne. Damien Martyn and Shaun Tait will return to high profile action after considerable time. Martyn is indeed a good purchase for the side for they let go off Mohammad Kaif. The former Australia middle order batsman can pace the innings and at the same time attack the bowling with flair. The only question remains is whether he will be able to bring it to the table?
We know Shaun Tait will. He has been in stupendous from this past season, especially in the KFC T20 Bash, and has even managed to return back to the national fold thanks to that. In 2008, Shane Watson benefited from playing under Warne and his international career just shot from there. This could be Tait’s year.
Note: This is an extract from the Rajasthan Royals preview first published at www.cricketworld.com. To read the full article, click here.
