IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals will look for a replacement for their IPL 2020 captain Steve Smith.© Steve Smith/Instagram
Rajasthan Royals will be without their captain in the last season Steve Smith in IPL 2021 and that makes at least one big slot to fill for them in the upcoming IPL auction on February 18. Beside Smith, Rajasthan also released Oshane Thomas and Tom Curran among overseas players and Ankit Rajpoot and Varun Aaron among others from the Indian players in the squad. Rajasthan go into the auction with a salary cap of Rs. 34.85 crore with a total of eight available slots among which three can be overseas players.
Here are some players Rajasthan could pick in the upcoming auction:
Openers
Rajasthan traded Robin Uthappa to Chennai Super Kings as they couldn’t find a place for him at the top of the order. With Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler staying as their designated openers, Rajasthan may look for a back-up option. Smith’s Australia teammate Aaron Finch, a big-ticket release by Royal Challengers Bangalore, could be a fit.
Middle-order
The likes of Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tewatia, David Miller and Riyan Parag could occupy middle-order slots. However, with the departure of Smith his place could be taken by Glenn Maxwell, who was released by Kings XI Punjab ahead of the auction.
Spinners
Shreyas Gopal, Tewatia, and Mayank Markande are the front-line spinners in the Rajasthan squad. Rajasthan may look to bring some experience to their spin-bowling contingent by getting Harbhajan Singh, the veteran IPL and India spinner, who was released by Chennai Super Kings.
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Fast bowlers
Rajasthan have Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Andrew Tye and Kartik Tyagi in their midst and they could look to shore-up their fast-bowling reserves with Indian pacers. Umesh Yadav or Mohit Sharma could be picked, or they could go for the overseas expert in Tim Southee.
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