Royals look to consolidate middle-order

The mini-auction IPL is still bound to cause anxiety to a few teams that must fill key slots and at the same time ensure they find a balance between the kind of players they want and the purse they have.

- Sandip Sikdar

Rajasthan Royals are not one of those teams, although it remains to be seen if they come back from Dubai on Tuesday a satisfied lot.

Having achieved a sensational victory in the inaugural edition in 2008 under Shane Warne, they had to wait until 2022 to get another shot at the title, losing to debutants Gujarat Titans in the final. Having ended a 14-year wait to even get to that stage, the Sanju Samson-led outfit's hope of finding a second title was dashed after they slipped to finish fifth in the league phase in IPL 2023.

Despite that, RR bosses have not seen any need for major changes, reposing trust in most of the players from the last two editions. That is reflected in their 16 retentions in a squad of 25 and a trade which has brought in fast bowler Avesh Khan from Lucknow Super Giants with top-order batter Devdutt Padikkal going to the KL Rahul-captained side.