Auction review: RR

 A classic blend aimed at bringing back the winning feeling

Back in 2008, it was fantasy land for Rajasthan Royals. They were supposed to be outshined by the galaxy of stars that was taking centerstage at the IPL. But what transpired was a fairy tale. They went from strength to strength deflating stellar opposition before finally coming up trumps at the pinnacle. That fairy tale run was a prelude to many more such tales in the IPL over the next 13 years. But unfortunately for RR, none of those stories that resulted in ultimate glory involved them. So as IPL 15 kicks-off RR should be hoping to produce the same fable from 14 years ago. But before setting foot on the field, did they do the job right at the auction table? Let's see

With Sanju Samson, Jos Butler and Yashashwi Jaiswal retained at a total cost of 28 cr, they had already accounted for a strong opening partnership and a good captain. So it was a surprise that they also went for Devdut Padikkal. But in the end, it was more RCB's loss than RR's gain. Even before the annexure of Padikkal, RR went all out just like KKR bringing on Trent Boult, Ravi Ashwin and Shimron Hetmeyer. And then to add to Padikkal's purchase they dented RCB further by hooking out Yuzvendra Chahal as well (that combo of Ashwin and Chahal is going to be potent for sure). More was to come as they pushed the purse for Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini and Riyan Parag. Barring Karun Nair's pick, there was hardly any excitement thereafter. But it looked like RR had already picked their choices.

On the second day, RR sat through the auction until the end before enriching their foreign squad finally with the picks of Rassie van der Dussen, Daryll Mitechell, Nathan Coulter Nite and James Neesham. In the end, they barely managed to fill their required quota of 24 players. A look back at the squad and you can see a healthy mix of Indian players, youth and strong overseas players - a classic blend aimed at reliving the feeling that Shane Warne had inducted into the franchise when the IPL opened the avenue.

Probable XI: Samson (wk, c), Butler, Padikkal, Jaiswal, Hetmeyer/Mitchell, Parag/van der Dussen, Ashwin, Saini, Coulter-Nile/Neesham, Chahal, Krishna