Since Ben Stokes left, Rajasthan Royals had to go for a pace bowling all-rounder and with only 13 crore in its kitty, Ben Stokes and Cameron Green were out of reach. They settled for Jason Holder, who could be a handy option at the Sawai Man Singh ground where batters get a lot of value for their shots. His presence at the back-end will give coach Kumar Sangakkara and captain Sanju Samson a lot of hope as well as option of power-hitting. Similarly, his well disguised slower ones will also be effective on Indian tracks. Height for Holder is just an added advantage in bowling, while in batting, he can play handy knocks for his side.
Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural IPL edition but have failed to win any title since then. They entered the final of IPL in 2022, after a gap of 14 years only to lose to newbies Gujarat Titans. RR will be looking to go a step further this time and win the trophy after adding the likes of Joe Root and Adam Zampa, alongside Windies star Holder. They had entered the mini auction with a remaining purse amount of 13.2 crore.
Rajasthan Royals squad:
Players bought at IPL 2023 auction - Joe Root (INR 1 crore), Abdul P A (INR 20 lakh), Akash Vashisht (INR 20 lakh), Murugan Ashwin (INR 20 lakh), KM Asif (INR 30 lakh), Adam Zampa (INR 1.5 crore), Kunal Rathore (INR 20 lakh), Donovan Ferreira (INR 50 lakh), Jason Holder (INR 5.75 crore)
Players retained - Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa
(With PTI Inputs)