Team composition
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Total EFscore of top 11 players: 1.063
Total EFscore of all ranked players: 1.174
The Rajasthan Royals were the most frugal spenders in this year’s player auction, and spent only 2.8 MM dollars, the least among all the teams. However, they had retained five of their players from the previous squad that reached the knock-out stage last season (Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Ajinkhya Rahane, Sanju Samson and Stuart Binny). Just like the Mumbai Indians, they built the rest of the team around this core, albeit in a more frugal manner than the Mumbai Indians.
The team is very well balanced in terms of both batting and bowling. They have a number of allrounders, which provides them with adequate depth in both the departments. In terms of batting, they have a number of power bats in the top order, but they will miss the steady hand of Rahul Dravid. In the bowling department, much will depend on the health of Shane Watson. If he doesn’t bowl enough overs, they will be a little thin in fast bowling. The do have more than enough options as far as spin bowling is concerned, and that should one of their lesser worries.
Roster management: The team is surprisingly thin in the wicket-keeping department, and Dishant Yagnik is the only specialist wicket-keeper in the team. He isn’t spectacular with the bat, and his inclusion in the team will come at the cost of another batsman. However, given the plethora of allrounders in their roster, the team should have little problem in covering up his deficient batting.
The slot for the four overseas players is likely to go to the four Australians, Shane Watson, James Faulkner, Brad Hodge and Steve Smith. They also have Kane Richardson, Kevon Cooper and Tim Southee on their roster who can see some action with the team.
Dark horse: James Faulkner’s primary role with the team is that of a fast bowler. However, Faulkner has shown his pedigree in chasing down tough targets in limited over matches, and Rajasthan Royals will not hesitate to use him as a pinch-hitter sould such a situation arise. Any team defending a target against Rajasthan Royals should be very wary of Faulkner, no matter how safe the target may look.