The 2019 season was the 10th season for the Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals. The team was captained by Ajinkya Rahane.
Background Player retention and auction
In November 2018, the Royals announced their list of retained players for the 2019 season. The list included Ajinkya Rahane, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Gopal, Aryaman Birla, Sudhesan Midhun, Prashant Chopra, Stuart Binny, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni and Mahipal Lomror among Indian players, and Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ish Sodhi among overseas players. The Royals thus had a purse of 18.3 crore and nine slots remaining in their roster ahead of the player auction.
On 18 December 2018, the IPL player auction was held in which the Royals signed nine more players: Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas, Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Riyan Parag, Manan Vohra and Shubham Ranjane. They filled their quota of 25 players with 17 Indian and 8 overseas players.
Preseason In February 2019, the Royals announced that they would wear pink jerseys in the 2019 season, changing from blue which had been the primary colour of their kit since 2008. Team captain Rahane and brand ambassador Shane Warne attributed the change to the Royals' home being Jaipur which is known as "Pink City" as well as the response received for a previous season's match in which they had worn pink for cancer awareness.
In March 2019, the franchise opened a cricket academy based at Reed's School, Surrey, England, called the Rajasthan Royals Academy.
Team analysis In his preview, Shashank Kishore of ESPNcricinfo wrote that while Royals have "great depth" in their squad they "need strategic precision" in the season. He concluded his analysis saying, "Even if a top-two finish may seem far-fetched, they will definitely be in the running for third or fourth." Firstpost stated that Indian players will "dictate to a great extent [..] the balance of the side [and] their position in two months time" and opined that they have the players "to improve on their Playoff finish from last year." News18 termed the "lack of a world-class spinner" as the team's weakness and suggested that the team "might suffer in the latter stages of the tournament" if their overseas players leave for World Cup preparations.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold.
No.NameNationalityBirth dateBatting styleBowling styleYear signedSalaryNotes Batsmen3 Ajinkya Rahane Right-handed Right-arm medium 2018 Captain till match 8; Vice Captain from match 9 onwards9Aryaman Birla Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2018 11 Prashant Chopra Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 18 Manan Vohra Right-handed Right-arm medium 2019 27 Liam Livingstone Left-handed Right-arm leg break 2019 Overseas43 Shashank Singh Right-handed Right-arm off break 2019 49 Steve Smith Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 Overseas; Vice Captain till match 8; Captain from match 952 Rahul Tripathi Right-handed Right-arm medium 2018 70 Ashton Turner Right-handed Right-arm off break 2019 Overseas All-rounders5 Riyan Parag Right-handed Right-arm off break 2019 6 Mahipal Lomror Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2018 7 Krishnappa Gowtham Right-handed Right-arm off break 2018 37 Shreyas Gopal Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 55 Ben Stokes Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 Overseas84 Stuart Binny Right-handed Right-arm medium 2018 700 Shubham Ranjane Right-handed Right-arm medium 2019 Wicket-keepers8 Sanju Samson Right-handed 2018 63 Jos Buttler Right-handed 2018 Overseas Bowlers17 Oshane Thomas Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2019 Overseas19 Sudhesan Midhun Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 22 Jofra Archer Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 Overseas61Ish Sodhi Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 Overseas77 Varun Aaron Right-handed Right-arm fast 2019 95 Dhawal Kulkarni Right-handed Right-arm medium 2018 99 Jaydev Unadkat Right-handed Left-arm medium 2019
Coaching and support staff Head coach - Paddy Upton Batting coach - Amol Muzumdar Spin bowling coach - Sairaj Bahutule Fast bowling coach - Steffan Jones Fielding coach - Dishant Yagnik Head of cricket - Zubin Bharucha Physiotherapist - John Gloster
Ref
Season League table
Match results
League stage
Statistics Most runs No. Name Match Inns NO Runs HS Ave. BF SR 100s 50s 0 4s 6s1 Ajinkya Rahane 14 13 1 393 105* 32.75 285 137.89 1 1 1 45 92 Sanju Samson 12 12 2 342 102* 34.20 230 148.69 1 1 1 28 13 3Steve Smith 12 10 2 319 73* 39.87 275 116.00 0 3 0 30 44 Jos Buttler 8 8 0 311 89 38.87 205 151.70 0 3 0 38 145 Riyan Parag 7 5 0 160 50 32.00 126 126.98 0 1 0 17 5 Last updated: 5 May 2019 Source:Cricinfo
Most wickets No. Name Match Inns Overs Maidens Runs Wickets BBI Ave. Econ. SR 4W 5W1 Shreyas Gopal 14 14 48.0 1 347 20 3/12 17.35 7.22 14.4 0 02 Jofra Archer 11 11 43.0 2 291 11 3/15 26.45 6.76 23.4 0 03 Jaydev Unadkat 11 11 37.2 0 398 10 2/26 39.80 10.66 22.4 0 0 4Ben Stokes 9 6 16.5 0 189 6 2/39 31.50 11.22 16.8 0 05 Dhawal Kulkarni 10 10 35.0 1 335 6 1/14 55.83 9.57 35.0 0 0 Last updated: 5 May 2019 Source:Cricinfo
Player of the match awards No.DatePlayerOpponentResultContributionRef. 1 Shreyas Gopal Royal Challengers Bangalore Won By 7 wickets 3/12 (4 overs) 2 Jos Buttler Mumbai Indians Won By 4 wickets 89 runs in 43 balls 3 Steve Smith Mumbai Indians Won By 5 wickets 59* runs in 48 balls 4 Varun Aaron Kolkata Knight Riders Won By 3 wickets 2/20 (4 overs) 5 Jaydev Unadkat Sunrisers Hyderabad Won By 7 wickets 2/26 (4 overs)
References