HT Digital,
Guwahati, Nov 26: Rajasthan Royals, a franchise owned by Royals Sports Group, has disclosed a list of 17 players it will retain for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction. The list includes 12 Indian and five overseas players.
Nine players, including six Indians and three overseas, were released from their contracts. The franchise also traded top order batter Devdutt Padikkal to Lucknow Super Giants earlier this week, with pacer Avesh Khan joining the Royals.
The majority of the retained squad were part of the Royals’ runner-up finish in IPL 2022, though they missed the Playoffs in IPL 2023.
Retained players include Captain Sanju Samson, spin duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, England skipper Jos Buttler, New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, World Cup-winner Adam Zampa, Shimron Hetmyer of West Indies, Indian internationals Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sandeep Sharma and Kuldeep Sen.
The team also keeps young all-rounder Riyan Parag and wicketkeeper-batters Donovan Ferreira, Dhruv Jurel and Kunal Singh Rathore.
Royals’ Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, discussed the team’s strategy and expressed confidence in the retained players’ ability to compete for the title again.
