Aakash Chopra believes the Rajasthan Royals (RR) would be unable to sign many big-ticket players at the IPL 2023 auction.
The Royals have retained 16 players ahead of the December 23 auction in Kochi. They have a residual budget of 13.2 crore, which allows them to sign a maximum of nine players, including four foreigners.
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Rajasthan Royals Will Again Buy Cheap Cricketers In A Jiffy: Aakash Chopra
Chopra said in a video posted to his YouTube channel that the Rajasthan Royals would use a technique similar to the one they did during last season’s auction, saying:
“Rajasthan Royals still have nine slots to be filled, in which they have to find four overseas players and they have only 13.2 crores. Rajasthan Royals will not be able to shop too much. They will again buy cheap cricketers in a jiffy.”
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The former Indian opener went on to say that Sanju Samson and company appear to have their starting lineup set, explaining:
“Lots of players have actually been released but they are not the big purse ones. No one touches Buttler, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer or Sanju Samson, and Yuzi Chahal and Ashwin are still a part of this team. So honestly speaking, the team is ready. Your XI is ready, it’s the last year’s one.”
Rajasthan Royals Will Be Looking To Get An Overseas All-rounder: Aakash Chopra
The Royals released nine players before the auction, including Anunay Singh, Corbin Bosch, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Karun Nair, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Shubham Garhwal, and Tejas Baroka. In the IPL 2022, none of them featured regularly in their starting XI.
Chopra predicts that the Royals may be unable to re-sign Ben Stokes, stating:
“What can you do differently? They don’t have too much money, so I am not going to take the big names, that you get Ben Stokes, although they like English players. I don’t think you can get very big names.”
The acclaimed analyst, on the other hand, believes the inaugural IPL champions should attempt to sign a foreign all-rounder, stating:
“Their problem was that the six proper batters and five proper bowlers’ story does not work, eventually you get found out in the IPL. It will be very good if they can get an overseas all-rounder.”
Aakash Chopra Suggests Name Of A Few All-rounders Rajasthan Royals Maybe Interested In
Chopra spoke on a few all-rounders who the Rajasthan Royals would be interested in:
“The cheap options could be Sikandar Raza, Romario Shepherd, Michael Bracewell, Dasun Shanaka, Chamika Karunaratne or Mohammad Nabi. None of Ben Stokes, Sam Curran or Cameron Green are going to come to them. Maybe Sikandar Raza because you will not be able to afford Holder as well.”
Chopra finished by pointing out that RR might turn to Ishant Sharma and Jaydev Unadkat for Indian pacers. He also suggested that the Jaipur-based team search for a spin-bowling backup, pointing out that they presently only had KC Cariappa.
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