Captain: Sanju Samson
Coach: Kumar Sangakkara
Home ground: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
IPL titles: 1 (2008)
Owners: Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch, RedBird Capital Partners

The team that attracted the smallest bid when the IPL franchises were first sold, Rajasthan Royals emerged unlikely champions in the first season. Since then they have blown hot and cold, reaching the playoffs four times and finishing sixth or below seven times. They have also been hit by controversy off the field. In 2010 there was a court battle over ownership. In 2013, three of their players were arrested on charges of spot-fixing, and following an investigation, the franchise was suspended for two years for its involvement in illegal betting and match-fixing.

History

Royals had a reputation for their "Moneyball" strategy of budget-conscious buying, and for picking largely unknown talents and backing them. Over the years they unearthed such names as Ravindra Jadeja, Sanju Samson and Yusuf Pathan. However, they also made some of the biggest purchases of them all. They bought England allrounder Ben Stokes for Rs 12.5 crores (about US$1.7 million) and India left-arm fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 11.5 crore ($1.6m), both in 2018; in 2021 they bought South Africa allrounder Chris Morris for Rs 16.25 crore ($2.2m) but they released him ahead of the 2022 auction.

Shane Warne led in Royals' victorious first season, and up until 2011, following which Rahul Dravid took over for two years. Shane Watson then captained briefly before handing over to Steven Smith in 2014. When Smith was banned for ball-tampering in 2018, Ajinkya Rahane replaced him as captain. Smith returned to lead in 2019, but after two poor seasons, Royals released him and named Sanju Samson the captain ahead of the 2021 season. They also appointed former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara as director of cricket around then.

Ahead of the 2022 mega auction, they retained Samson for Rs 14 crore ($1.8m), Jos Buttler for Rs 10 crore ($1.3m) and young Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rs 4 crore ($500,000). They released Stokes and Jofra Archer, two of their biggest names in the previous seasons.

The highs

The fairy-tale win in 2008 is what the franchise is best remembered for. That and for largely staying true to their vision of promoting and giving opportunities to a number of young, unknown talents over the years.

The lows

Royals have not been short on controversy over the years - the most serious of which was in the wake of three players, Sreesanth, Ajay Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, being arrested for spot-fixing. Following the report of the Lodha Committee, which was set up to look into the workings of the BCCI in the wake of the scandal, the board banned the franchise for two years, and one of its owners, Raj Kundra, for life. They also failed to make the playoffs for the third year in a row, finishing second-last on the table in 2021.

Season by season

2008 - champions
Described as underdogs coming into the tournament, RR made headlines with a spectacular run, winning 11 out of 14 games in the group stage. Standout efforts from Watson, Sohail Tanvir, Pathan, and the captain, Warne, all through the season helped them lift the trophy, defeating MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings in the final.

2009 - sixth
Royals were without two of their best players from the previous year: Tanvir was ineligible after the BCCI banned Pakistani players from taking part in the IPL, and Watson missed out due to Australia commitments. They dropped seven players in the middle of the tournament, and finished with seven losses.

2010 - seventh
Pathan set the stage on fire in Royals' season opener against Mumbai Indians, hitting the fastest IPL hundred at the time, off 37 balls, but his team fell short by four runs. They lost the next two games as well, but then had four wins on the trot, before losing five out of their next seven matches and finishing second from last on the table.

2011 - sixth
In what proved to be their last season under Warne, Royals started with a series of wins but were then derailed by heavy losses, including four in a row in the latter half of the group stage. They had Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor and Paul Collingwood in their ranks, and had managed to buy back Shaun Tait, but they still only won six matches out of 14.

2012 - seventh
Another dismal season, with seven wins in 16 matches, though Ajinkya Rahane shone for the team. He scored a 66-ball 98 in the season opener and then 103 off 60 in a group game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, finishing with 560 runs in 16 matches for the season.

2013 - third
RR made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Watson, the Player of the Tournament for his 543 runs in 16 games, played a major role in their qualifying for the playoffs, where they won the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad but lost to Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier.

2014 - fifth
Royals retained Samson, Rahane, Watson, James Faulkner and Stuart Binny, and bought Smith, Tim Southee, Karun Nair, Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar at the auction. Dravid stayed on as a mentor after retiring as a player. Royals ended up missing out on a playoffs spot due to a narrow net run rate difference with Mumbai Indians.

2015 - fourth
The team enjoyed their strongest start, with five straight wins. However, their momentum was thwarted by a few losses in the middle and a couple of abandoned matches. They still managed to finish in the top four but eventually lost in the eliminator to Royal Challengers Bangalore.

2016, 2017 - suspended

2018 - fourth
They returned from suspension but had a topsy-turvy season under Rahane. There were some brilliant individual performances but their two biggest buys - Unadkat and Stokes - failed to live up to their price tag, and RR crashed out of the playoffs in the eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders, losing by 25 runs.

2019 - seventh
Going into the tournament, there were questions over Rahane's position as captain and his middle-order spot. Royals stuttered again with five losses in their first six games, before Smith came in to lead midway through. Shreyas Gopal and Archer impressed, but Stokes' returns were modest, and the team finished at No. 7 for the third time in their history.

2020 - eighth
Royals started well with wins in their first two games, but slumped after that, winning only four of their next 12 matches and finishing last on the table. Apart from Archer's consistent brilliance with the ball and a few extraordinary individual performances, there was little to celebrate.

2021 - seventh
Yet another disappointing season, with just five wins in 14 games. They were without two of their biggest names, Archer and Stokes, for the entire tournament, and their other mainstay, Buttler, also pulled out of the UAE leg. They could never find the right combination as a result, and the captain, Samson, was left to do most of the work in the batting department.

2022 - runners up
Royals' best season since 2008. While Buttler, who finished with 863 runs in 17 innings, was the key performer, their new-look bowling attack of R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna also came good. Buttler and Chahal, who finished as the top run scorer and wicket-taker of the season, were key in their making it to the final, where they lost to Gujarat Titans.

2023 - fifth
After winning all but one of their first five games, Royals flipped the script, winning just one of their next five. Yashasvi Jaiswal was a force for them, setting a record for the fastest IPL fifty (13 balls) and also making a hundred and an unbeaten 98. Jos Buttler, on the other hand, was a shadow of the player he was in 2022, finishing with three ducks in a row.

Key players

Shane Watson
Watson was the player of the tournament in Royals' successful first season, and he played for them until 2015, scoring 2372 runs, picking up 61 wickets, and starring in many of the team's wins. When he retired from the game after the 2020 season, he was still No. 2 on Royals' run-makers list and No. 1 on their wicket-takers list.

Ajinkya Rahane
Rahane was picked by Royals as an uncapped player in 2011 and went on to become the franchise's top run-scorer, with 2810 from 100 matches. Royals bought him back in 2018 when they returned from their ban, after his two seasons with Rising Pune Supergiant, but he had poor returns over the next couple of years and was released ahead of the 2020 auction.

Sanju Samson
The franchise bought Samson in 2013, when he was 18, and he immediately impressed with the bat and as keeper. He performed consistently in the next two seasons, and was signed again after the franchise's return from their ban. Samson has been a mainstay of Royals' batting since, and he is their top run-scorer of all time, with 3211 runs as at the end of the 2023 season.

Jos Buttler
Buttler impressed in his maiden season with the franchise in 2018, racking up 548 runs in 13 games. He was retained ahead of the 2022 auction for Rs 10 crore ($1.3 million) and he finished as the best batter of that season, with 863 runs at an average of 57.53 and a strike rate of 149.05. His four centuries in the season were the joint-most for any player in a T20 series or tournament.

Team records

Squad

(OP) Overseas Players

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