Indian Premier League (IPL)

IPL 2023: Predicted Retained Players for Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Sanju Samson shall continue to lead as we look at the strongest predicted retained squad and players list for Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2023. 

The IPL 2023 player retention deadline is just a few days away, and all teams are busy planning the players that they would retain and release ahead of the November 25 deadline. Unlike the 2022 Auction, where only 4 players were allowed to be retained, the 2023 Mini Auction won’t have such restrictions. 

Having said that, it would be interesting to see what’s in store for the 2022 Runner-up, Rajasthan Royals. Even with the limitations that they had, the team did fairly well under the leadership of Sanju Samson. The team was witnessed to the leading run-scorer and wicket-taker for the season. 

But what strategy would they adopt when it comes to player retentions for the 2023 season? Will they retain most of their core, or let go of a lot of overseas bunch, which didn’t perform and felt redundant? Well, let’s find out the strongest predicted retained squad for Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2023. 

Batters & WKs

Batters: Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer & Yashasvi Jaiswal

Wicket-keepers: Dhruv Jurel, Jos Buttler & Sanju Samson (C)

Rajasthan Royals had two good young batters and an experienced Overseas batter in the 2022 Season. Without a doubt, Rajasthan Royals would retain Indian youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal along with Shimron Hetmyer. In addition, the team would once again keep faith in Riyan Parag, who didn’t have a good 2022 season. 

However, Rajasthan Royals could let go of Karyn Nair and Rassie van der Dussen. While Karun Nair isn’t of much value to RR, Rassie could be released on account of his struggle to play on Indian pitches. Releasing them could give Rajasthan Royals an additional INR 2 crores to spend. 

Coming to wicket-keepers, Rajasthan Royals shall retain their two star players, Captain Sanju Samson and Opener Jos Buttler. These two are the backbone of the Rajasthan Royals squad, and would continue to be in 2023 as well. In addition, Rajasthan Royals shall retain Dhruv Jurel as a backup keeper. 

All-rounders

Main All-rounders: Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham & Ravichandran Ashwin

The retention of all-rounders could be an interesting proposition for Rajasthan Royals. Without a doubt, Rajasthan Royals should retain the big-match player Daryl Mitchell and lower-order all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin. But will the team retain Jimmy Neesham for the 2023 season. Well, they should retain him as he is the number 1 all-rounder for New Zealand and isn’t costly too for INR 1.5 crores. 

Bowlers

Main Bowlers: Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult & Yuzvendra Chahal

Backup Bowlers: KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav & Navdeep Saini

Coming to the bowlers, Rajasthan Royals could let go of Nathan Coulter-Nile as he is not in contention for Australia as well. Apart from this change, Rajasthan Royals should retain the rest of the bowlers. So, that includes Kuldeep Sen, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna, and Yuzvendra Chahal as the primary bowlers. Whereas KC Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, and Navdeep Saini could be good backups. 

IPL 2023: Strongest Predicted Retained Squad for Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Total Players: 18 // Purse Remaining: ~INR 10.95 Crores

Batters: Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer & Yashasvi Jaiswal

WKs: Dhruv Jurel, Jos Buttler & Sanju Samson (C)

All-rounders: Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham & Ravichandran Ashwin

Bowlers: KC Cariappa, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult & Yuzvendra Chahal

So, that’s about the strongest predicted retained squad for Rajasthan Royals (RR) for IPL 2023. Overall, Rajasthan Royals shall retain a total of 18 players including 8 overseas players. With these retentions, Rajasthan Royals shall have around INR 11 crores to spend on 5 Indians and 2 overseas players 

Thanks for reading! What are your retained Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad players for IPL 2023? Please email your thoughts to business@cricalytics.com


ALSO READ: IPL 2023: Predicted Retained Squad for Chennai Super Kings (CSK)


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Adesh Kothari

Adesh Kothari is the founder and primary author at AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics, which he launched in 2019 to deliver in-depth cricket analysis, player breakdowns, and squad predictions. Adesh has followed the sport closely since 1996, nearly three decades. Cricket, to him, is what football is to Lionel Messi, singing was to Lata Mangeshkar, dancing is to Michael Jackson, and acting is to Clint Eastwood. That lifelong obsession turned into serious analytical writing around 2008. His analysis draws on close to two decades of writing about domestic and international team combinations, player form, historical head-to-head records, and pitch and conditions analysis, along with ongoing coverage of every major Indian cricket series and IPL season since the site's founding in 2019. Adesh holds an MBA and brings a structured, data-first approach to breaking down team strategy. You can find his work referenced across AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics' 35,000+ member Instagram community (@cricalytics), and connect with him directly on Twitter / LinkedIn.

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