The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the Royals were owned by Indian tycoon Manoj Badale for several years. In March 2026, an American consortium led by Kal Somani, Rob Walton, and the Hamp family was reported to have bought the team for $1.63 billion but the deal fell through and then in May 2026, a consortium led by Lakshmi Mittal and Adar Poonawalla acquired it for $1.65 billion with Lakshmi having majority stake at 75% and Adar 18% and remaining being with Manoj Badale. The Royals team is based at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. It plays its home matches at Sawai Mansingh Stadium and at Assam Cricket Association Stadium, Guwahati.
The team won the inaugural edition of the IPL under the captaincy of Shane Warne, despite being written off as a title contender by the media and fans. The Royals were also the runners-up of the 2013 Champions League Twenty20 under Rahul Dravid's captaincy, and the runners-up of the 2022 Indian Premier League under the captaincy of Sanju Samson and leadership of Kumar Sangakkara. The team qualified for playoffs in 2024 Indian Premier League but lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in qualifier 2 by 36 runs under the captaincy of Sanju Samson and leadership of Sangakkara. The team had announced former team India coach and ex-Rajasthan Royals player and mentor Rahul Dravid as Head Coach for IPL 2025.
On 14 July 2015, the verdict reached by a panel appointed by the Supreme Court of India suspended Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings for two years over a 2013 betting scandal, meaning they could not participate in both the 2016 and 2017 IPL tournaments. The team returned to the competition with the 2018 season.
The team's record run-scorer is Sanju Samson with 4219 runs, while the leading wicket-taker is Jofra Archer, with 70 wickets. Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Jos Buttler, Dipesh Vaishnav, Riyan Parag,James Faulkner, Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, Ajinkya Rahane, and Yusuf Pathan are widely regarded as some of the most notable players in the history of the Rajasthan Royals.
Franchise history The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the establishment of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in September 2007, a Twenty20 competition to be started in 2008. The Rajasthan Royals were one of the original eight teams in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008. Emerging Media gained ownership of the Jaipur-based franchise team with a bid of $67 million, making it the least expensive team in the league.
As of 2024, the franchise is owned by the Royals Sports Group (Emerging Media Sporting Holdings Limited), which holds a 65% stake. Key minority stakeholders include Lachlan Murdoch and RedBird Capital Partners. There have been past controversies regarding the ownership of the franchise, leading to a brief expulsion of the team from the league in 2010. The franchise made a pre-tax profit of $7.5 million in 2009.
Expulsion from the IPL and return In 2010, the BCCI decided to expel Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL. The expulsion baffled captain Shane Warne who stated that he suspected that there might be some foul play and that the BCCI might possess some ulterior motives.IPL news: Shane Warne questions move to ax Rajasthan Royals | Cricket News | Rajasthan Royals | ESPNcricinfo. ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. The Rajasthan Royals filed an appeal against the decision and the two parties went to the Bombay High Court.The IPL mess: Rajasthan franchise appeals against scrapping | Cricket News | Indian Premier League 2011 | ESPNcricinfo. ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. The Bombay High Court adjourned that case until 29 October 2010,IPL: Rajasthan Royals hearing adjourned | India Cricket News | ESPNcricinfo. ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. but it was revised to 15 November because they didn't want it to coincide with Diwali celebrations from 1 to 14 November.IPL news: Rajasthan Royals hearing adjourned again | Cricket News | Indian Premier League 2011 | ESPNcricinfo. ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013.
Later, it was announced by the Royals that they told the Bombay High Court that they would be negotiating with an arbitrator to see if they could reconcile with the IPL. The arbitrator announced that while the investigation was ongoing, the Royals would remain a part of the IPL for six weeks and the BCCI would not be allowed to change rules which might go against the Royals. The six-week period included the player auction in which Rajasthan Royals participated. After this, the Bombay High Court rejected the appeals of the BCCI against keeping the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL for six weeks while the case was sorted out.The IPL Mess: Bombay High Court upholds Rajasthan's return | Cricket News | Indian Premier League 2011. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. It was estimated that because of the losses in court cases and damage to its reputation, the BCCI decided not to pursue further legal action against the Rajasthan Royals or Kings XI Punjab – the teams were allowed to remain in the IPL.IPL 2011 news: Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid in highest price band for IPL auction | Cricket News | Indian Premier League 2011. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved on 23 December 2013.
Ownership history Inception and Manoj Badale era (2008–2026) The Rajasthan Royals were established in 2008 as the least expensive of the original eight Indian Premier League franchises, purchased by Manoj Badale's Emerging Media Ventures for $67 million.
The franchise's ownership structure underwent several significant changes during this period: 2009–2015: Following the inaugural season win, the team saw the entry of high-profile minority investors, including Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra, who acquired an 11.7% stake through Kunda Investments. Following the 2013 IPL betting scandal, Kundra was banned for life and the couple exited the franchise ownership in 2015. 2021: RedBird Capital Partners acquired a 15% stake in the franchise for approximately $37.5 million, valuing the team at $250 million at the time. Manoj Badale’s Emerging Media subsequently increased its stake to 65%.
2026 buyout By December 2025, Badale – who held a 65% majority stake in the franchise – began gauging interest in a potential acquisition of the team, with potential for a full 100% buyout. Early valuations put the franchise's worth at over $1 billion. By late January, two primary groups emerged as the frontrunners to acquire the franchise: a consortium backed by Arizona-based entrepreneur Kal Somani and another led by the Times of India Group; the former offered a $1.3 billion acquisition. Reuters later reported on a slew of recent bidding entries, including those by Manchester United owner Avram Glazer, KKR, Blackstone, and American investor David Blitzer.
The surge in interest was viewed as a "watershed" moment for the Indian sports market and marked the start of a rise in American cricket investments. On 25 March 2026, a buyout deal was announced wherein 100% of the franchise would be sold to Somani, who had partnered with Walmart heir Rob Walton and Detroit Lions owners Sheila Ford Hamp and her son, Michael, to put forth a $1.63 billion offer. Including both the flagship IPL team and the franchise's global cricket academies in the UAE and Mauritius, the deal is the second-highest IPL sale in history, having been surpassed by the $1.78 billion sale of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Team history
2008 IPL season Before the start of the inaugural IPL season, many considered the Royals as possibly the weakest team in the IPL, giving them little chance of competing well in the tournament. Evidence of the latter opinion seemed to be confirmed when the team lost its first match against the Delhi Daredevils in a 9 wicket loss. The fears were confirmed that the team was likely to struggle.
In their first home game ever at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, they played against the Kings XI Punjab and won by 6 wickets as Shane Watson was declared the man of the match for his unbeaten 76 off 49 balls in what was a successful run chase. That was followed by a crucial 3 wicket win against the season favourite, Deccan Chargers, in Hyderabad. The victory proved to be a huge morale booster. Yusuf Pathan won the first man of the match award for his bowling figures of 2/20 in 4 overs and a 28-ball 61.
The next game against the Kolkata Knight Riders was won by 45 runs where Swapnil Asnodkar received his first man of the match award for a fine knock of 60 off just 34 balls.
They further managed to defeat the Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur but lost to Mumbai Indians in Navi Mumbai. The Royals continued to win the next five games in a row. They were the first team to book a place in the semi-finals with their 65 run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore and were pitted against Chennai Super Kings for the finals. The Royals won by 3 wickets in the final played on 1 June 2008.
The all-rounder Shane Watson won the man of the tournament award for scoring as many as 472 runs and picking 17 wickets. Shane Warne's captaincy and coaching were praised and well received by everyone, including opposition teams.
Each player and representative in the team was awarded a medal. The team was presented with the DLF Indian Premier League trophy along with a cheque for US$1.2 million prize money. Many of the Royals players also took home individual awards for their performance during the tournament; Yusuf Pathan claimed the Man of the Match award for the final match, Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament in possession of the Purple Cap (the IPL's leading wicket-taker), and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Series.
2009 IPL season The Royals were the defending champions. Sohail Tanvir was ineligible to play for the team as PCB failed to provide NOC for Pakistani players playing in the competition. Shane Watson was unavailable for the whole season as Australia toured to UAE for the ODI series against Pakistan. Without these two, the team looked slightly weaker than the previous season and players such as Graeme Smith, Shaun Tait, and Shane Warne had to be relied on.
The defending champions got off to the worst possible start by losing their opening match by 75 runs to Royal Challengers Bangalore in a match which saw The Royals record what was at the time the lowest total (58 all out) in the history of the IPL and to date is still the second lowest. The same match also saw the Royals pick-up the unwanted record of the lowest ever powerplay total (14/2) in the IPL. They remained defeated by Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, and Chennai Super Kings but they won over Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers. The Royals were at the end of the points table. Mohammed Kaif, Dinesh Salunkhe, Paras Dogra, Anup Revandkar, Shrideep Mangela, Ashraf Makda, and Azhar Malik were dropped from the team and sent home.
Rajasthan Royals ended 6th out of the 8 teams in the competition, winning 6 matches out of the 14 they played. The Royals failed to make it to the semi-finals after losing their last two matches against Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.
British Asian Cup On 14 May 2009, it was announced that Rajasthan Royals would meet Middlesex Crusaders in a one-off Twenty20 for the British Asian Cup. It was the first time that an annual charity series was to be played between the Twenty20 champions of the two countries. The match took place on 6 July 2009. The teams were announced on 3 July 2009 with Rajasthan Royals including Mohammad Kaif and the comeback of Sohail Tanvir.