The Rajasthan Royals, also known as RR, are a professional
Twenty20 cricket
Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
team based in
Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
, Rajasthan, that competes in the
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...
(IPL).
Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight franchises, the team is owned by
Manoj Badale and The Royals Sports Group. The Royals team is based at the
Sawai Mansingh Stadium in
Jaipur
Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...
. It plays its home matches at Sawai Mansingh Stadium and at
Assam Cricket Association Stadium,
Guwahati
Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...
.
The team won the
inaugural edition of the IPL under the captaincy of
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
, despite being written off as a title contender by the media and fans. The Royals were also the runners-up of the
2013 Champions League Twenty20 under
Rahul Dravid's captaincy,
and the runners-up of the
2022 Indian Premier League under the captaincy of
Sanju Samson and leadership of
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. In first-class cricke ...
. The team qualified for playoffs in
2024 Indian Premier League
The 2024 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 17 and branded as TATA IPL 2024) was the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League. The tournament featured ten teams competing in 74 matches from 22 March to 26 May 2024. It was held across 13 ...
but lost to
Sunrisers Hyderabad in qualifier 2 by 36 runs under the captaincy of
Sanju Samson and leadership of Sangakkara. The team had announced former team India coach and ex-Rajasthan Royals player and mentor
Rahul Dravid as Head Coach for IPL 2025.
On 14 July 2015, the verdict reached by a panel appointed by the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...
suspended Rajasthan Royals and
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...
for two years over a
2013 betting scandal, meaning they could not participate in both the
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
IPL tournaments. The team returned to the competition with the
2018 season.
The team's record run-scorer is
Sanju Samson with 4219 runs, while the leading wicket-taker is
Shane Watson, with 67 wickets.
Franchise history
The
Board of Control for Cricket in India
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...
(BCCI) announced the establishment of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in September 2007, a
Twenty20
Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
competition to be started in 2008. The Rajasthan Royals were one of the original eight teams in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008. Emerging Media gained ownership of the Jaipur-based franchise team with a bid of $67 million, making it the least expensive team in the league.
As of 2024, the franchise is owned by the Royals Sports Group (Emerging Media Sporting Holdings Limited), which holds a 65% stake. Key minority stakeholders include
Lachlan Murdoch
Lachlan Keith Murdoch (; born 8 September 1971) is a British and Australian businessman and mass media heir. He is the son of the media Business magnate, tycoon Rupert Murdoch. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, chairman of N ...
and RedBird Capital Partners. There have been past controversies regarding the ownership of the franchise, leading to a brief expulsion of the team from the league in 2010.
The franchise made a pre-tax profit of $7.5 million in 2009.
Expulsion from the IPL and return
In 2010, the BCCI decided to expel
Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals from the IPL. The expulsion baffled captain
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
who stated that he suspected that there might be some foul play and that the BCCI might possess some ulterior motives. The Rajasthan Royals filed an appeal against the decision and the two parties went to the
Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...
.
[The IPL mess: Rajasthan franchise appeals against scrapping , Cricket News , Indian Premier League 2011 , ESPNcricinfo](_blank)
ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. The Bombay High Court adjourned that case until 29 October 2010,
[IPL: Rajasthan Royals hearing adjourned , India Cricket News , ESPNcricinfo](_blank)
ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. but it was revised to 15 November because they didn't want it to coincide with Diwali celebrations from 1 to 14 November.
[IPL news: Rajasthan Royals hearing adjourned again , Cricket News , Indian Premier League 2011 , ESPNcricinfo](_blank)
ESPNcricinfo.com. Retrieved on 23 December 2013.
Later, it was announced by the Royals that they told the Bombay High Court that they would be negotiating with an arbitrator to see if they could reconcile with the IPL. The arbitrator announced that while the investigation was ongoing, the Royals would remain a part of the IPL for six weeks and the BCCI would not be allowed to change rules which might go against the Royals. The six-week period included the player auction in which Rajasthan Royals participated. After this, the Bombay High Court rejected the appeals of the BCCI against keeping the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL for six weeks while the case was sorted out. It was estimated that because of the losses in court cases and damage to its reputation, the BCCI decided not to pursue further legal action against the Rajasthan Royals or Kings XI Punjab – the teams were allowed to remain in the IPL.
Ban in 2015
In 2015, the team was banned for two years following the
Lodha Committee inquiry.
Rajasthan Royals became the source of controversy when inappropriate and fictitious bids were made, violating the
BCCI norms.
Ranjit Barthakur and Fraser Castellino were the only two shareholders of the team, which was completely unknown to the BCCI at the time. An out-of-court settlement between the two ensued. In 2015, Rajasthan Royals were banned for two years by the BCCI, with its owner
Raj Kundra banned for life.
Team history
2008 IPL season
Before the start of the
inaugural IPL season, many considered the Royals as possibly the weakest team in the IPL, giving them little chance of competing well in the tournament.
Evidence of the latter opinion seemed to be confirmed when the team lost its first match against the
Delhi Daredevils in a 9 wicket loss. The fears were confirmed that the team was likely to struggle.
In their first home game ever at
Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, they played against the
Kings XI Punjab and won by 6 wickets as Shane Watson was declared the man of the match for his unbeaten 76 off 49 balls in what was a successful run chase. That was followed by a crucial 3 wicket win against the season favourite,
Deccan Chargers, in Hyderabad. The victory proved to be a huge morale booster.
Yusuf Pathan won the first man of the match award for his bowling figures of 2/20 in 4 overs and a 28-ball 61.
The next game against the
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders, also known as KKR, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Kolkata, West Bengal, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Juhi Chawla, and ...
was won by 45 runs where
Swapnil Asnodkar received his first man of the match award for a fine knock of 60 off just 34 balls.
They further managed to defeat the
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...
in Jaipur but lost to
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
in Navi Mumbai. The Royals continued to win the next five games in a row. They were the first team to book a place in the semi-finals with their 65 run win over the
Royal Challengers Bangalore and were pitted against Chennai Super Kings for the finals. The Royals won by 3 wickets in the final played on 1 June 2008.
The all-rounder
Shane Watson won the man of the tournament award for scoring as many as 472 runs and picking 17 wickets.
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
's captaincy and coaching were praised and well received by everyone, including opposition teams.
Each player and representative in the team was awarded a medal. The team was presented with the DLF Indian Premier League trophy along with a cheque for US$1.2 million prize money. Many of the Royals players also took home individual awards for their performance during the tournament;
Yusuf Pathan claimed the
Man of the Match
In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...
award for the final match,
Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament in possession of the Purple Cap (the IPL's leading wicket-taker), and Australian all-rounder
Shane Watson was declared the
Man of the Series.
2009 IPL season
The Royals were the defending champions.
Sohail Tanvir was ineligible to play for the team as PCB failed to provide NOC for Pakistani players playing in the competition.
Shane Watson was unavailable for the whole season as
Australia toured to UAE for the ODI series against Pakistan. Without these two, the team looked slightly weaker than the previous season and players such as
Graeme Smith
Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa national cricket team, South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed Captain (cricket), captain of the So ...
,
Shaun Tait, and
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
had to be relied on.
The defending champions got off to the worst possible start by losing their opening match by 75 runs to
Royal Challengers Bangalore in a match which saw The Royals record what was at the time the lowest total (58 all out) in the history of the IPL and to date is still the second lowest. The same match also saw the Royals pick-up the unwanted record of the lowest ever powerplay total (14/2) in the IPL. They remained defeated by Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab, and Chennai Super Kings but they won over Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers. The Royals were at the end of the points table.
Mohammed Kaif,
Dinesh Salunkhe,
Paras Dogra, Anup Revandkar,
Shrideep Mangela, Ashraf Makda, and Azhar Malik were dropped from the team and sent home.
Rajasthan Royals ended 6th out of the 8 teams in the competition, winning 6 matches out of the 14 they played. The Royals failed to make it to the semi-finals after losing their last two matches against Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders.
British Asian Cup
On 14 May 2009, it was announced that Rajasthan Royals would meet
Middlesex Crusaders in a one-off
Twenty20
Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
for the
British Asian Cup. It was the first time that an annual charity series was to be played between the Twenty20 champions of the two countries. The match took place on 6 July 2009. The teams were announced on 3 July 2009 with Rajasthan Royals including
Mohammad Kaif and the comeback of
Sohail Tanvir.
The match was won by Rajasthan Royals by 46 runs after scoring 162/5 in 20 overs and successfully defending it by 46 runs (Middlesex 116/7). The Man of the Match was
Dimitri Mascarenhas.
2010 IPL season
The Royals were back in India after their average outing in South Africa. This time they seemed to be a better outfit as they were to play in conditions that should have suited them the most. But they had to suffer an unfortunate start to the competition, with a narrow 4 run defeat to the Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The highlight of this match though, was Yusuf Pathan hitting the fastest ever hundred in IPL history, off only 37 balls. Even some of the Mumbai fans were disappointed not to see Rajasthan win, by the end of it all.
They went on to lose to the Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets in one of their new ‘home’ grounds, Ahmedabad. And were again bruised badly by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who won by 10 wickets. The team remained inconsistent throughout the whole season, winning their next four matches consecutively. One of the young Turks of the erstwhile ICL, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala impressed against the franchise representing his home state, Kolkata Knight Riders as his 36-ball 45 helped the Royals win by 34 runs.
Followed by which the Western Australian batsman Adam Voges hit 45 runs off 24 balls to help Rajasthan beat Punjab in Mohali by 31 runs. The team seemed to have adapted to the Ahmedabad conditions better with wins against Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets as Yusuf Pathan continued his good form against the team, while they beat Chennai Super Kings by 17 runs, thanks to wicket-keeper batsman Naman Ojha's 49-ball 80.
But they lost against Chennai in their return clash as Murali Vijay's hundred took the game away from them as well as were crushed in Delhi by 67 runs. But they managed to escape a Deccan Chargers attack, with a narrow 2 run victory in Nagpur and continued their unbeaten run in Jaipur though, as the out of sorts Kings XI Punjab were duly beaten by 9 wickets with English opener Michael Lumb winning the man of the match award for his 43-ball 83.
Once again, Rajasthan Royals ended the tournament miserably with losses to Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at home and the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last round-robin game in Kolkata. Consequently, they failed to make it to the playoffs for the second consecutive season as they finished 7th out of the 8 teams in the competition, winning 6 games out of 14 played.
2011 IPL season
The Rajasthan Royals, and the
Kings XI Punjab were temporarily ejected from the league due to issues with their unreported ownership changes. The teams were reinstated with involvement from the High Court. Their owners were broken into several legal entities when the
BCCI required the incorporation of the companies.
Kochi was also at risk of ejection for the same reasons before BCCI cleared their new ownership pattern for the tournament.
The team management decided to retain the Australian duo of Shane Warne and Shane Watson for the following three seasons of the IPL, although Warne's future continued to be uncertain. Yet, he decided to make this his final season for the Rajasthan Royals on the insistence of the team owners who felt that he was the ultimate source of inspiration for the team on and off the field.
In the auction, the team's funds were reduced since they were penalised by the BCCI in 2010 and as a result, had to pay a certain amount of bank guarantee as fixed by the High Court. But they possessed an adequate amount of money to buy some of the world's finest T20 players, which they did not exactly.
They managed to buy back Australian fast bowler
Shaun Tait for US$300,000 as well as South African bowling all-rounder Johan Botha for US$950,000. The other star players which they picked were New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor for US$1 million as well as ‘The Wall’
Rahul Dravid for half that price. England's World T20 2010 winning skipper
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England cricket team, England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood was a ...
was also purchased for a mere US$250,000. The other players were mostly from the domestic circuits but were confident individuals following Rajasthan winning the
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...
that year.
Rajasthan Royals began the IPL 2011 in grand fashion, beating the Kumar Sangakkara-led Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets, with the young Indian pacer Siddharth Trivedi adjudged the man of the match for his spell of 3/15 and the Royals continued their fine record against the Chargers. While Shane Warne defied age with a fine piece of bowling to assist Rajasthan in defeating a weakened Delhi Daredevils side by 6 wickets, with figures of 2/17.
However, their confidence was dented with two back-to-back defeats to the new-look Kolkata Knight Riders in three days. In the clash at Jaipur, they lost by 9 wickets, due to a 100-run partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis, Whereas, in Kolkata, Lakshmipathy Balaji picked 3/15 in 4 overs on a minefield pitch in Eden Gardens to help his team pull off an 8 wicket victory.
The match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore was washed out due to rain, which made Rajasthan's task of making it into the last four much tougher. Shaun Marsh was in great nick and his 42-ball 71 resulted in the Royals losing to Kings XI Punjab in Mohali by 48 runs. However, they pulled together a string of a hat-trick of home wins, as Rajasthan chased successfully in all the three matches. The first was against the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, winning by 8 wickets. Followed by Mumbai Indians, the No. 1 team then on the points table as they chased down a total of 100 with 7 wickets to spare. And then the Pune Warriors India were undone by Ross Taylors’ 35-ball 47 not out, as Rajasthan won by 6 wickets.
But again it was inconsistency which let the Royals down badly. They were given a proper thumping by the eventual champions Chennai Super Kings in both the matches they played against each other, within five days. The in-form Royal Challengers Bangalore thrashed them by 9 wickets, while they were bowled out for 97 in their 8-wicket defeat to the Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Although this time they ended their round-robin matches well with a win against the Mumbai Indians in Mumbai and in the process, giving Shane Warne a fitting farewell, Rajasthan were dismissed from the competition since they ended at the 6th position out of the 10 teams in the tournament, having again won 6 out of their 14 matches played, with one being a no result.
2012 IPL season
Rajasthan Royals finished in seventh place among the points table in season 5 of the IPL, winning only seven matches out of sixteen.
2013 IPL season
Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoff stage by finishing third in the group stage, thus grabbing a spot in 2013 Champions League Twenty20. They won against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator but lost to Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier, which led to their exit from the tournament.
Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Tournament.
2013 spot-fixing case
On 16 May 2013, three Rajasthan Royals players
Sreesanth,
Ankeet Chavan
Ankeet Chavan (born 28 October 1985) is a former cricketer who played for Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. He was an all-rounder who batted left-handed and bowled slow left-arm orthodox. He also played for Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premie ...
and
Ajit Chandila were arrested from Mumbai by Delhi Police along with eleven bookies on charges of spot-fixing in the tournament. The fixing happened in the matches against Pune Warriors on 5 May, Kings XI Punjab on 9 May and Mumbai Indians on 15 May. Later, BCCI suspended the three players.
2014 IPL season
Rajasthan Royals retained five players –
Sanju Samson,
Ajinkya Rahane,
Shane Watson,
James Faulkner and
Stuart Binny – for the seventh season of the IPL. James Faulkner scored 65 runs off the last 17 balls at a strike rate of 382.35 to win the match against RCB.
Shane Watson led the side and
Rahul Dravid played the role of a mentor.
2015 IPL season
In the 2015 IPL, Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoffs by finishing fourth in the league stage, but lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the eliminator, which led to their exit from the tournament.
2018 IPL season
In 2018, the Rajasthan Royals made a comeback to the IPL after two years of suspension. Prior to the 2018 IPL auction, the Royals retained
Steve Smith for , announcing him as captain for the 2018 season. Following the
ball tampering controversy in March 2018, Smith stepped down as Royals captain with
Ajinkya Rahane appointed. Smith was subsequently banned from playing in the 2018 IPL season. Following Steve Smith's ban,
Heinrich Klaasen was announced as replacement.
On 2 May 2018, in a match against the
Delhi Daredevils,
Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...
scored the fastest ever 50 for Rajasthan Royals, off just 18 balls. This was also the fifth-fastest in IPL history. However, RR lost the match by four runs after failing to make the revised target of 151 from 12 overs due to rain. Buttler also equalled
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag (, born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive openers and one of the greatest batsmen of his era, he played for Delhi Capitals in I ...
’s record for most consecutive fifties in the IPL, with 5 consecutive fifties.
The Royals managed to secure fourth place in the regular season, with 14 points. However, they crashed out of the playoffs in the eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders, losing by 25 runs in
Eden Gardens.
2019 IPL season
Ahead of 2019 IPL Auction, Royals retained 16 players and released 9 players. During the auction, Rajasthan bought 9 players.
Paddy Upton was named the Royals coach ahead of
2019 Indian Premier League
The 2019 Indian Premier League season (also known as IPL 12) was the twelfth season of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. At one point othe ...
.
Steve Smith made a comeback to the IPL on 25 March 2019 after he was banned by BCCI to participate in the 2018 season due to
Australian ball-tampering controversy.
Ajinkya Rahane retained his captaincy at the start of the season, however, on 20 April 2019
Steve Smith replaced
Ajinkya Rahane as captain of Rajasthan Royals after a string of poor results.
2020 IPL season
Ahead of 2020 IPL Auction, Royals retained 11 players and released 11 players. Royals have traded
Ajinkya Rahane,
Krishnappa Gowtham,
Dhawal Kulkarni to
Delhi Capitals,
Kings XI Punjab and
Mumbai Indians
The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...
respectively. Royals bought
Mayank Markande,
Rahul Tewatia and
Ankit Rajpoot via trade from
Delhi Capitals and
Kings XI Punjab.
Andrew McDonald was named the Royals head coach of
2020 Indian Premier League replacing
Paddy Upton.
Steve Smith was named to continue as captain of Royals.
The team started off really well in the season by winning their first two matches. However, they could not keep the momentum and succumbed to four consecutive losses after it, and ended their season at the bottom of the points table after winning six out of fourteen matches. Despite Rajasthan ending at the bottom, their bowler
Jofra Archer was named the most valuable player of the season.
2021 IPL season
On 20 January 2021, ahead of the auction for the
2021 Indian Premier League, Rajasthan released eight players, including their captain
Steve Smith. On the same day, they also announced that
Sanju Samson would be the captain for the 2021 season. In his first match as captain Samson smashed a century (119 off 63 deliveries) but failed to win the match for his team as Royals lost to Punjab Kings by 4 runs in a high scoring encounter. Samson was the highest run scorer for the team for the season with 484 runs in 14 innings and
Chris Morris was the highest wicket-taker for the team with 15 wickets in 11 innings. Rajasthan failed to qualify for the play-offs and finished 7th in the points table after winning only 5 matches out of 14 matches.
2022 IPL season
On 30 November 2021, ahead of the auction for the
2022 Indian Premier League, Rajasthan retained their captain
Sanju Samson,
Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...
, and youngster
Yashasvi Jaiswal and released all the other players from their squad
Royals bought a set of experienced international stars including
Ravichandran Ashwin,
Trent Boult,
Shimron Hetmyer,
Yuzvendra Chahal,
James Neesham,
Nathan Coulter-Nile,
Rassie van der Dussen
Hendrik Erasmus "Rassie" van der Dussen (born 7 February 1989) is a South African professional cricketer who represents the South Africa national cricket team and plays for Gauteng in domestic cricket. In the 2018 ''South African Cricket Annua ...
,
Daryl Mitchell
After doing well in the league stage and finishing second in the points table, the team lost twice to
Gujarat Titans
The Gujarat Titans, also known as GT, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The home ground of the team is Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The franchise is o ...
within the space of six days, first in Qualifier 1 and then in the final to finish as runners up. Jos Buttler earned the MVP award, as well as the Orange Cap with a tally of 864 runs in 17 innings, while
Yuzvendra Chahal won the Purple Cap for taking the most wickets (27) in the season.
2023 IPL season
Rajasthan Royals started their 2023 campaign with a 72 runs victory margin against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The excellent form of talented young
Yashasvi Jaiswal was the biggest achievement for RR. Jaiswal who was the 'Emerging Player of the Season' award winner, made 625 runs in 14 games with an elegant average of 48.07 and a superb strike rate of 163.61.
After an excellent first half of the tournament winning 4 of its first 7 matches Royals failed to qualify for the play-offs after winning only 3 of its last 7 matches and ended up 5th on the points table. Jaiswal was the highest run-scorer for the team with 625 runs and Yuzvendra Chahal finished the season with 21 wickets.
2024 IPL season
The Royals started off their
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
well winning their first four matches. The streak was broken when they lost to the Titans on the last ball of the match. They followed this with a close win against Punjab. In the next match against KKR, the Royals equaled the highest ever chased in the IPL when they scored 8/224 courtesy of
Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...
scoring an unbeaten 107. After which they went on another winning streak.
Royals won 8 of its first 9 matches but went on to lose next 4 of its last 5 matches with their last league match being washed off in rain, RR managed to qualify for playoffs. In the eliminator they defeated
Royal Challengers Bangalore, they lost against
Sunrisers Hyderabad by 36 runs in the second qualifier. The highest run scorer of this season from this team was
Riyan Parag (573). The highest wicket taker of this season from this team was
Avesh Khan (19).
2025 IPL season
Royals retained
Sanju Samson,
Yashasvi Jaiswal,
Dhruv Jurel,
Riyan Parag,
Shimron Hetmyer and
Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep Sharma (born 18 May 1993) is an Indian cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Chandigarh and the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He is a right-arm medium pace bowler. Sharma has represented India at two Under-19 World Cups – 2010 and 2 ...
ahead of the 2025 IPL mega auctions. They released marquee players like Jos Buttler, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult ahead of the auctions.
Team identity
Team anthem
The team anthem was called 'Halla Bol'. In the first IPL season, the song was sung by
Ila Arun. In the second season, it was sung by
Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan (pronounced ; born Nidhi Chauhan, 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer. Known for her Bold vocal range, she has recorded songs for films in several Indian languages and List of awards and nominations received by Sunidhi ...
. The anthem was sung by Amit Trivedi and Mame Khan for the 2023 season.
Mascot
The team's mascot is a lion named ''Moochu Singh''.
Rivalries
Rivalry with Punjab Kings
The rivalry between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings is a long-standing one. Known as the Northern Derby, it is often a high-scoring encounter. In 25 matches, the Royals have come out on top 14 times; the Kings have won 11.
During the fourth match of the 2019 season, Ravichandran Ashwin, who at the time played for Punjab,
ran out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end. This caused tensions to flare between the teams.
In 2020, thanks to a brilliant opening stand between KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, Punjab scored 223/2 from their 20 overs. Rajasthan got off to a good start in the chase, but wickets began to fall, and the required run rate grew. Rahul Tewatia (at the time on 8 runs off 19 balls) hit five sixes in Sheldon Cottrell's 18th over to narrow the gap. Tom Curran hit the winning runs in the final over to give Rajasthan a famous comeback victory, setting the record for the highest successful run chase in IPL history until Punjab Kings themselves broke the record in 2024.
Notable players
Traditionally, the Rajasthan Royals usually purchase relatively unknown or uncapped cricketers, meaning those who have not played for their nation, at cut-throat prices. The Royals are famous for their frugal spending in the IPL auctions, even during the mega-auctions held once in 3 years. They have even bought players who had previously never played first-class cricket such as
Dinesh Salunkhe and
Pravin Tambe. The team has also purchased leading world cricketers such as
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batter for Victoria, Hampshire ...
,
Rahul Dravid,
Shane Watson,
Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...
and
Ravichandran Ashwin.
Many of the cricketers who have played for the Royals, having been bought by them as relatively unknown players, have ended up as leading international cricketers partly due to their strong performances in the IPL and backing from the Royals management. In the initial seasons, such players included
Taruwar Kohli
Taruwar Sushil Kohli (born 17 December 1988) is an Indian former
cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He scored two triple-centuries in first-class cricket.
In domestic cricket, he appeared with ONGC.
Early l ...
, who was acquired by the franchise in 2008 under the Under-19 player quota, and
Yusuf Pathan, the elder brother of the Indian all-rounder
Irfan Pathan, who was relatively unknown in cricketing circles unlike his more-celebrated younger brother. Yusuf's brilliant performances in the initial seasons of the IPL earned him a place in the Indian cricket team and he was a
member of the Indian squad which won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Even Australian
Shane Watson, who has played for the Royals ever since its inception, became a permanent, consistent and leading member of the
Australian cricket team
The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...
soon after his brilliant first season with the Royals in 2008. In the later seasons, these players have included Indian cricketers such as
Ajinkya Rahane, wicket-keeper-batsman
Sanju Samson, leg-spinner Tambe, whose performances for the Royals earned him a
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...
debut for
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
at the age of 42,
Stuart Binny and
Dhawal Kulkarni, as well as international cricketers like
James Faulkner,
Steve Smith and
Tim Southee. Even off-spinner
Ajit Chandila, who played only 2 first-class matches and was also convicted in the spot-fixing scandal, was one of the top bowlers for the Royals during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Captains
Last updated: 31 May 2025
*Steve Smith filled in as captain for Shane Watson in 2014 and 2015 before replacing Ajinkya Rahane in 2019 and his full captaincy season was in 2020.
** Riyan Parag captained Rajasthan Royals in 2025 for most of the season, owing to an injury to the permanent captain Sanju Samson.
Home ground
The home venue of the Royals is the
Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The stadium was built during the reign of
Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. It is situated at one corner of the Rambagh Circle. The stadium seats 24,000 after the 2006 renovation. The
Sardar Patel Stadium in
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...
has also hosted Rajasthan Royals' home matches. The
Assam Cricket Association Stadium, Guwahati in
Assam
Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
has also hosted the Rajasthan Royals' matches for the 2023 season.
The
Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur once again started to host the Royals' home games from the 2018 IPL season onwards after their return from a two-year suspension which also saw the stadium being banned from hosting matches for four years.
Current squad
* Players with international caps are listed in bold.
* denotes a player who is currently unavailable for selection.
* denotes a player who is unavailable for rest of the season.
Administration and support staff
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Former players
Seasons
Indian Premier League
Champions League Twenty20
Statistics
See also
*
Barbados Royals
*
Paarl Royals
*
Cricket in India
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. It is played almost everywhere in the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India is the governing body of Indian cricket and conduct all domestic tournaments and select the players for the In ...
*
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Team profileat ''iplt20.com''
{{Indian Premier League
Indian Premier League teams
Sport in Jaipur
Cricket clubs established in 2008
Cricket in Rajasthan
2008 establishments in Rajasthan