Rajasthan Royals IPL Team

The Rajasthan franchise began its Indian Premier League journey on a high note, as they clinched the inaugural edition in 2008. Skipper Shane Warne led them successfully, performing the dual role of both, captain as well as coach. The following seasons were comparatively less fruitful, as the team tried to emulate its success in 2008 but repeatedly failed in its attempts. Shane Warne then bid adieu to professional cricket in 2011, playing his last game in the fourth season.

Rajasthan found their new captain in veteran Indian batsman Rahul Dravid ahead of the fifth IPL season. The purchase of Brad Hogg, Brad Hodge, Dinesh Chandimal and S Sreesanth added more variety to the already existing line-up that included the likes of Shane Watson, Shaun Tait and so on. Sreesanth was ruled out due to injury but the rest managed to perform consistently, with special reference to Ajinkya Rahane. But that didn't help Rajasthan's cause as they were unlucky to miss out on the qualification for the playoffs. However, they were recipients of the Fair Play Award and rightfully so, under Dravid's astute leadership. Rajasthan put in consistent performances for the next three years but in 2016, they were banned for two years due to an off-field issue.

On their return, Rajasthan bought quite a few superstars in the 2018 auction. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were notably the biggest buys for them. They made it to the knockout stages but were eventually beaten by Kolkata in Eliminator.

Rajasthan's fortunes dipped massively in the following seasons. There was a change in guard when Sanju Samson was handed over the captaincy but Rajasthan finished either at rock bottom or near the foot of the table in three consecutive editions since 2019.

Ahead of the mega auction in 2022, Rajasthan retained Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal and picked up quality players like Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal and Yuzvendra Chahal to name a few. Samson remained at the helm for the Pink team.