“IPL Trophy (duh)” – That’s how the list of Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) goals for the New Year 2022 began. The Royals, who finished at 8th and 7th position in the last two seasons, respectively, hoped for a more fruitful year not just with performance on the field but expectations off the field as well. Another major goal for the Royals was moving up in former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris’ prediction rankings.
For the uninitiated, Styris predicted his standings ahead of the second half of the IPL 2021 and he had the Royals languishing down at the bottom. While the Royals did just a little better to finish at the 7th spot, they surely took it to heart as their goals showed.
Similar to the 2020 edition, Rajasthan Royals flattered to deceive last year as well. In one game, they beat the eventual champions Chennai Super Kings but lost to the bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad in the other as they finished with just five wins in the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third season in a row.
Ahead of the mega auction for 2022 season, Royals retained just three players – skipper Sanju Samson in the top bracket at INR 14 crores, opening batsman and wicket-keeper Jos Buttler in the second spot at INR 10 crores, and last but not least, the uncapped Yashasvi Jaiswal at INR 4 crore.
While Buttler missed the second half of the IPL due to personal reasons, he was Royals’ automatic choice after Samson as he is one of the best white-ball batsmen in the current era while the left-handed Jaiswal’s fearless and clean hitting impressed many while forming a successful opening partnership with Evin Lewis in the UAE leg.
