Rajasthan Royals (Hindi: राजस्थान रॉयल्स) is an Indian Premier League franchise based on the city of the Jaipur captained by former Indian captain Rahul Dravid.They were the champions of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. In 2010,they were terminated by the BCCI for a brief period for violations in agreement but was allowed to play in the league soon after the Board lost the case in the Supreme Court.[1]
[edit] Franchise History
The Rajasthan Royals franchise is owned and chaired by Manoj Badale. Other investors include Ryan Tkalcevic, Lachlan Murdoch, Sir. Aditya S Chellaram and Suresh Chellaram. The Group acquired the franchise for $67 million. Incidentally, this was the least expensive franchise in the Indian Premier League and probably the least fancied team in the league at the beginning of the tournament. Bollywood actress and Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty and her business partner (now husband) Raj Kundra paid approximately US $15.4 million for a 11.7% stake before the start of IPL 2 in early 2009, therefore valuing the team at $130 million.[2]
It made a pre-tax profit of $7.5 million in 2009.[3]
[edit] Team anthem and Mascot
The team's mascot is a Lion named Ryan Tkalcevic.[4]
The team anthem, 'Halla Bol' is sung by Ila Arun.[4]
[edit] 2008 IPL Season
Prior to the start of the inaugural IPL season, many considered the Royals as possibly the weakest team in the IPL, giving them little chance of competing well in the tournament.[5] Evidence of the latter opinion seemed to be confirmed when the team lost its first match against the Delhi Daredevils in a 9 wicket loss.[6] However the Royals won their next game by defeating the Kings XI Punjab and continued to win the next five games in a row. The Royals built up an impressive 11–3 record after their fourteen preliminary round matches; this included a consecutive 5-game and 6-game winning streak with an undefeated record on their home ground and a spot at the top of the points table. They were also the first team to book a place in the semifinals with their 65 run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Shane Warne's captaincy and simultaneous coaching was praised and well received by everyone,[7][8] including opposition teams.[9] In addition, many players of the Royals team had consistently played well. The Royals secured a place in the finals with a victory against the Delhi Daredevils.
The Rajasthan Royals became the winner of the first IPL tournament, when they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 3 wickets in the final played on 1 June 2008. With the scores level with one ball remaining, Sohail Tanvir scored the winning run and therefore prevented the match from being decided on a bowl out.[10]
Each player and representative on the team was awarded a medal and the team was presented with the DLF Indian Premier League trophy along with a cheque for US$ 1.2 million prize money. Many of the Royals' players also took home individual awards for their performance during the tournament; Yusuf Pathan claimed the Man of the Match award for the final match, Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament in possession of the Purple Cap (the IPL's leading wicket taker) and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Series.
[edit] 2009 IPL Season
The Royals did not have a good start during the 2009 season. In their opening game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who were second last in 2008, the Royals obtained the lowest score in the tournaments history. Rajasthan started to gain momentum slowly with Yusuf Pathan's explosive performances in victories against Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils giving hope to the Royals and their fans. However, inconsistency became a major factor; much was expected of South African captain Graeme Smith who was playing in front of his home crowd and who in last season's scored 441 runs, he together with Swapnil Asnodkar were not able to string together strong consistent performances. The absence of previous year's stars Sohail Tanvir and Shane Watson was also a major factor. Tanvir was not eligible in this season due to the political strain between India and Pakistan, and Watson was called up to play for Australia in the series against Pakistan in the UAE. Many also considered the sending of Mohammad Kaif back to India a poor decision as his batting could have contributed to the team's batting performance. The Royals failed to make it to the semifinals after losing their last two matches against Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.
[edit] British Asian Cup
On 14 May 2009 it was announced that Rajasthan Royals will meet Middlesex Crusaders in a one-off Twenty20 for the British Asian Cup. It was the first time that an annual charity series to be played between the Twenty20 champions of the two countries. The match took place on 6 July 2009. The Squads were announced on 3 July 2009 with Rajasthan Royals included Mohammad Kaif and also saw a comeback of Sohail Tanvir. The match was won by Rajasthan Royals by 46 runs after scoring 162/5 in 20 overs and successfully defending it by 46 runs ( Middlesex 116/7 ) . The MoM was Dimitri Mascarenhas
[edit] 2010 IPL Season
Rajasthan started the season looking to emulate their success in 2008 but suffered a three game losing streak at the start of the tournament. They bounced back well with a four game winning streak but they were knocked out after a defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their final game of the third season of the IPL.
[edit] 2011 IPL Season
[edit] IPL 2011 Schedule
The Royals play their first IPL 2011 match against the Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad on 9 April 2011.[11] Full schedule for the IPL 2011 is available here.[11]
[edit] IPL 2011 Group Fixtures
Each Team will play 14 games. The team would be playing home and away matches with five teams, away matches with two teams and home matches with two teams.
[edit] Players
Rajasthan Royals were the least active franchise during the players' auction. The team didn't have a designated icon player, which saved a lot of cap space for the franchise. However the franchise was surprisingly low key during the auction, and in the end got penalized by the IPL committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria of $3.3 million.[12] The highest bid by Rajasthan Royals was for the Indian middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif, who came off the board at $675,000. Shane Warne was named the coach and the captain of the side. The Royals were unique during the 2008 season as they were the only side to have an English cricketer in their squad, Hampshire's all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas who only played one match, against the Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur on 11 May, before returning to England. The Rajasthan Royals also selected Justin Langer and Morne Morkel in the player auction, but both declined to instead play county cricket.[13][14] In 2009 Season the team has cut down six Indian players from the previous year's squad. They are batsman Mohammad Kaif and other relatively unknowns Dinesh Salunkhe, Anup Revandkar, Srideep Mangela, Ashraf Makda and Azhar Malik.[15]
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Batsmen
All Rounders
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Wicket Keepers
Bowlers
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Coaches
→ More rosters
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[edit] Management
[16]
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Fixtures and results
[edit] Overall results
Summary of results
|
Wins |
Losses |
No Result |
% Win |
| 2008 |
13 |
3 |
0 |
78.09% |
| 2009 |
6 |
7 |
1 |
43% |
| 2010 |
6 |
8 |
0 |
43% |
| 2011* |
6 |
7 |
1 |
46.42% |
| Total |
29 |
25 |
2 |
51.17% |
[edit] 2008 season
Rajasthan Royals IPL Fixtures
| No. |
Date |
Opponent |
Venue |
Result |
| 1 |
19 April |
Delhi Daredevils |
Delhi |
Lost by 9 wickets |
| 2 |
21 April |
Kings XI Punjab |
Jaipur |
Won by 6 wickets, MoM – Shane Watson – 76* (49) |
| 3 |
24 April |
Deccan Chargers |
Hyderabad |
Won by 3 wickets, MoM – Yusuf Pathan – 2/20 (2 overs) and 61 (28) |
| 4 |
26 April |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Bangalore |
Won by 7 wickets, MoM – Shane Watson – 2/20 (4 overs) and 61* (41) |
| 5 |
1 May |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
Jaipur |
Won by 45 runs, MoM – Swapnil Asnodkar – 60 (34) |
| 6 |
4 May |
Chennai Super Kings |
Jaipur |
Won by 8 wickets, MoM – Sohail Tanvir – 6/14 (4 overs) |
| 7 |
7 May |
Mumbai Indians |
Navi Mumbai |
Lost by 7 wickets |
| 8 |
9 May |
Deccan Chargers |
Jaipur |
Won by 8 wickets, MoM – Yusuf Pathan – 68 (37) |
| 9 |
11 May |
Delhi Daredevils |
Jaipur |
Won by 3 wickets, MoM – Shane Watson – 2/21 (4 overs) and 74 (40) |
| 10 |
17 May |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Jaipur |
Won by 65 runs, MoM – Graeme Smith – 75* (49) |
| 11 |
21 May |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
Kolkata |
Won by 6 wickets, MoM – Yusuf Pathan – 1/14 (2 overs) and 48* (18) |
| 12 |
24 May |
Chennai Super Kings |
Chennai |
Won by 10 runs |
| 13 |
26 May |
Mumbai Indians |
Jaipur |
Won by 5 Wickets, MoM – Sohail Tanvir – 4/14 (4 overs) |
| 14 |
28 May |
Kings XI Punjab |
Mohali |
Lost by 41 Runs |
| 15 |
30 May |
Delhi Daredevils (Semi Final #1) |
Mumbai |
Won by 105 runs, MoM – Shane Watson – 52 (29) and 3/10 (3 overs) |
| 16 |
1 June |
Chennai Super Kings (Final) |
Navi Mumbai |
Won by 3 wickets,MoM – Yusuf Pathan – 56 and 3/22 (4 overs), MoS – Shane Watson – 472 runs and 17 wickets, Purple Cap Holder – Sohail Tanvir
The Royals won the inaugural DLF IPL T-20 Tournament on 01/06/2008.
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[edit] 2009 season
Rajasthan Royals IPL Fixtures
[edit] 2010 season
Rajasthan Royals IPL Fixtures
[edit] 2011 season
Rajasthan Royals IPL Fixtures
| No. |
Date |
Opponent |
Venue |
Result |
| 1 |
9 April |
Deccan Chargers |
Hyderabad |
Won by 8 wickets, MoM –  Siddharth Trivedi 3/15 |
| 2 |
12 April |
Delhi Daredevils |
Jaipur |
Won by 6 wickets, MoM –  Shane Warne 2/17 |
| 3 |
15 April |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
Jaipur |
Lost by 9 wickets, MoM – Gautam Gambhir |
| 4 |
17 April |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
Kolkata |
Lost by 8 wickets, MoM – Lakshmipathy Balaji 3/15 |
| 5 |
19 April |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Bangalore |
Match abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain |
| 6 |
21 April |
Kings XI Punjab |
Chandigarh |
Lost by 48 runs, MoM – Shaun Marsh 71(42) |
| 7 |
24 April |
Kochi Tuskers Kerala |
Jaipur |
Won by 8 wickets, MoM – Shane Warne 3/16 |
| 8 |
29 April |
Mumbai Indians |
Jaipur |
Won by 7 wickets, MoM –  Johan Botha 45(39)& 3/6 (2 overs) |
| 9 |
1 May |
Pune Warriors India |
Jaipur |
Won by 6 wickets, MoM –  Ross Taylor 47*(35) |
| 10 |
4 May |
Chennai Super Kings |
Chennai |
Lost by 8 wickets, MoM – Michael Hussey 79*(55) |
| 11 |
9 May |
Chennai Super Kings |
Jaipur |
Lost |
| 12 |
11 May |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
Jaipur |
Lost |
| 13 |
15 May |
Kochi Tuskers Kerala |
Indore |
Lost |
| 14 |
20 May |
Mumbai Indians |
Mumbai |
Win by 10 wickets, MoM – Shane Watson 89*(47)(9*4,6*6) & 3/19 (4 Overs) |
[edit] Expulsion From the IPL & Return (2010)
The BCCI decided to expel Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL. The expulsion baffled captain Shane Warne who stated that he suspected that there might be some foul play and that the BCCI might possess some ulterior motives.[17] The Rajasthan Royals have however filed an appeal against the decision and the two parties will go to the Mumbai High Court to decide [18] The Mumbai high-court adjourned that case until 29 October 2010.[19] Both parties then agreed to adjourn the case again to 15 November because they didn't want it to coincide with diwali celebrations from 1 to 14 November[20] Later it was announced by the Royals that they told the Bombay High court that they would be negotiating with an arbitrator to see if they could reconcile with the IPL [21] The arbitrator announced that while the investigation was ongoing the Royals would remain apart of the IPL for six-weeks and the BCCI would not be allowed to change rules which might go against the Royals. The six-week period included the player auction in which it's expected that the Royals will participate [22] After this the Bombay High Court rejected the appeals of the BCCI against keeping the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL for six-weeks while the case was sorted out.[23] It was estimated because of the losses in court cases and damaging reputation the BCCI decided not to pursue any further legal action against Royals' or Kings XI Punjab and announced they decided to keep them in the IPL [24] The Royals announced that they had retained Shane Watson and Shane Warne before they go into the auction.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Yusuf Pathan 42 (21), 18* (4) In The Superover
Graeme Smith 77(44)
Shane Warne 3/24(4 overs)
Middlesex Panthers
Ross Taylor 47*(35)
