IPL Auction Review: Rajasthan Royals
Last year’s runner-up Rajasthan Royals made some smart signings in the recently concluded IPL 2023 Player Auction. The losing finalists of IPL 2022 headed into the auction with a purse of INR 13.2 crores. The Rajasthan-based franchise made 17 bids in total but were successful in only nine of those due to their comparatively smaller kitty.
The Royals almost went broke in hot pursuit of English batting sensation Harry Brook only to halt due to their limited purse value. However, they managed to scalp Jason Holder for INR 5.75 crore. Last year’s purple cap winner Yuzvendra Chahal found himself an able spin partner after the Royals signed Adam Zampa for INR 1.5 crore.
They opened the bidding for highly coveted stars like Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, and Nicholas Pooran, but were outbid by their competitors as all the aforementioned players were sold in excess of INR 15 crore. However, they got their hands on a talented Proteas player Donovan Ferreira for a paltry sum of INR 50 lakh.
The Royals turned heads after they signed Joe Root for his base price of INR 1 crore. The former England skipper went unsold at the start, but found himself a franchise for the first time in IPL, joining his compatriot and white-ball skipper Jos Buttler in the Rajasthan Royals camp.
The other five players purchased by Royals were KM Asif for INR 30 lakh, PA Abdul for INR 20 lakh, Akash Vashisht for INR 20 lakh, Kunal Rathore for INR 20 lakh, and Murugan Ashwin for INR20 lakh. After completing their full quota of players, INR 3.35 crore remained in their purse.
RR Final Squad for IPL 2023:
