The 2020 season was the 13th season for the Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals. The Rajasthan Royals are sometimes considered as the "moneyball" team of the IPL. The Royals are known to unearth obscure, high potential talent team. Steve Smith led the team. The team finished at bottom of the table with 6 wins and 8 losses. Sanju Samson scored the most runs with 375 runs and Jofra Archer took the most wickets with 2020 and earned the Player Of The Tournament.
Background Player retention and transfers
The Rajasthan Royals retained 11 players and released 11.
Retained Steve Smith, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mahipal Lomror, Varun Aaron, Manan Vohra.
Released Ashton Turner, Oshane Thomas, Shubham Ranjane, Prashant Chopra, Ish Sodhi, Aryaman Birla, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Stuart Binny, Liam Livingstone, Sudheshan Midhun, Ajinkya Rahane.
Auction The franchise purchased the most number of the players at the IPL 2020 Auction, signing a further 11.
Auction Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Akash Singh, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Oshane Thomas, Anirudha Joshi, Andrew Tye, Tom Curran
Indian Premier League Offseason On 13 March 2020, the BCCI postponed the tournament until 15 April, in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. On 14 April 2020, Narendra Modi said that the lockdown in India would last until at least 3 May 2020, with the tournament postponed further. The following day, the BCCI suspended the tournament indefinitely due to the pandemic.
On 17 May 2020, the Indian government relaxed nation-wide restrictions on sports events, allowing events to take place behind closed doors. On 24 May, Indian sports minister Kiren Rijiju stated that the decision on whether or not to allow the tournament to be conducted in 2020 will be made by the Indian government based on "the situation of the pandemic". In June 2020, the BCCI confirmed that their preference was to host the tournament in India, possibly between September and October. On 24 July 2020, it was confirmed that the tournament would start from 19 September 2020.
Group stage On 22 September, the Rajasthan Royals started their season campaign defeating Chennai Super Kings by 16 runs. Steven Smith lost the toss and was put to bat. Rajasthan cruised past 100, and Sanju Samson posted a 74 off 32 balls before getting out, and Smith also got 69 off 47 balls as Royals posted a daunting 216 at the end of their 20 overs. Jofra Archer 27 in 8 balls and finished strongly for the royals, scoring 30 runs in the last over. Super Kings started off rapidly in their chase, getting 56 runs in the first six overs without losing a wicket. Once again Faf du Plessis got a half-century, and at the end they got to 200/6. On 27 September, Rajasthan Royals recorded their second win by chasing 223, this time it was Sanju Samson again who scored 85 runs, who played an instrumental role in Royals winning the match. On 30 September 2020 Rajasthan recorded their first loss against Kolkata Knight Riders. Kolkata batted first and put up a score of 174/6, Rajasthan failed to chase down 174 and lost the match by 37 runs. The team went on to lose 3 games. The Royals snapped their 3 match losing streak by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad. SRH batted first and posted a decent score of 158/4, Rajasthan lost the big wickets, but it was the unbeaten 69 run partnership of Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag which helped Royals to win the match by 5 wickets. The Royals continued to lose against Delhi and Bangalore. But they won against Chennai Super Kings by 7 wickets and then witnessed a loss against Sunrisers. But Royals were back in the game against Mumbai.Mumbai posted a good score of 195/4, but it was Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson whose 152 run partnership lead Royals to a 8-wicket win. They won against Kings XI Punjab, Ben Stokes being the Man of the Match again. They lost in the last group game against Kolkata Knight Riders by 60 runs. Therefore, Rajasthan were knocked out of the tournament finishing on 8th position.
Squad Players with international caps are listed in bold. No.NameNationalityBirth dateBatting styleBowling styleYear signedSalaryNotes Batsmen49 Steve Smith Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2019 Overseas, Captain6 Mahipal Lomror Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox 2018 18 Manan Vohra Right-handed Right-arm medium 2019 267 Yashasvi Jaiswal Left-handed Left-arm leg break 2020 10 David Miller Right-handed Right-arm off break 2020 Overseas07 Robin Uthappa Right-handed Right-arm medium 2020 Aniruddha Joshi Right-handed Right-arm off break 2020 All-rounders55 Ben Stokes Left-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2018 Overseas4 Rahul Tewatia Left-handed Right-arm leg break 2020 5 Riyan Parag Right-handed Right-arm off break 2019 43 Shashank Singh Right-handed Right-arm off break 2019 Wicket-keepers11 Sanju Samson Right-handed Right-arm medium 2018 63 Jos Buttler Right-handed – 2018 Overseas; Vice Captain Anuj Rawat Left-handed – 2020 Spin Bowlers37 Shreyas Gopal Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2018 39 Mayank Markande Right-handed Right-arm leg break 2020 Pace Bowlers22 Jofra Archer Right-handed Right-arm fast 2018 Overseas77 Varun Aaron Right-handed Right-arm fast 2019 3 Ankit Rajpoot Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 99 Jaydev Unadkat Right-handed Left-arm fast 2020 9 Kartik Tyagi Right-handed Right-arm medium-fast 2020 68 Andrew Tye Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 Overseas59 Tom Curran Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium 2020 Overseas Oshane Thomas Left-handed Right-arm fast 2020 Overseas Akash Singh Left-handed Left-arm medium-fast 2020
Administration and support staff PositionNameOwnerAmisha Hathiramani (Tresco International Ltd), Manoj Badale (Emerging Media (IPL) Ltd), Lachlan Murdoch (Blue Water Estate Ltd)COO Jake Lush McCrumBrand ambassador and mentor Shane WarneDirector of cricket Zubin Bharucha Head coach Andrew McDonald Batting coach Amol Muzumdar Spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule Source:
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Kit manufacturerShirt sponsor (chest)Shirt sponsor (back)Chest BrandingAlcis SportsTV9 BharatvarshRed BullKEI Wires & Cables Source :
Teams and standings Results by match
League table
League stage
Statistics Most runs No. Name Match Inns NO Runs HS Ave. BF SR 100s 50s 0 4s 6s 1 Sanju Samson 14 14 1 375 85 28.84 236 158.89 0 3 2 21 23 2 Jos Buttler 13 12 2 328 70* 32.80 227 144.49 0 2 0 27 16 3 Steve Smith 14 14 2 311 69 25.91 237 131.22 0 3 0 32 9 4 Ben Stokes 8 8 1 285 107* 40.71 200 142.50 1 1 0 36 7 5 Rahul Tewatia 14 11 5 255 53 42.50 183 139.34 0 1 0 13 17 Source:Cricinfo
Most wickets No. Name Match Inns Overs Maidens Runs Wickets BBI Ave. Econ. SR 4W 5W 1 Jofra Archer 14 14 55.4 0 365 20 3/19 18.25 6.55 16.7 0 0 2 Rahul Tewatia 14 14 46.0 0 326 10 3/25 32.60 7.08 27.6 0 0 3 Shreyas Gopal 14 14 50.0 0 427 10 2/28 42.70 8.54 30.0 0 0 4 Kartik Tyagi 10 10 38.1 0 367 9 2/36 40.77 9.61 25.4 0 0 5 Jaydev Unadkat 7 7 23.0 0 228 4 2/32 57.00 9.91 34.5 0 0 Source:Cricinfo
Player of the match awards No. Date Player Opponent Result Contribution Ref. 1 Sanju Samson Chennai Super Kings Won By 16 runs 74 (32) 2 Sanju Samson Kings XI Punjab Won By 4 wickets 85 (42)311 October 2020Rahul TewatiaSunrisers HyderabadWon by 5 wickets45* (28)419 October 2020Jos ButtlerChennai Super KingsWon by 7 wickets70* (48)525 October 2020Ben StokesMumbai IndiansWon by 8 wickets107* (60)630 October 2020Ben StokesKings XI PunjabWon by 7 wickets2/32 (4 overs) & 50 (26)
References