Returning to the Indian Premier League (IPL) fold would also be the Rajasthan Royals (RR) team, this year. After serving a two-year ban by the Supreme Court, the Rajasthan franchise will be back in action after a gap of two years! The RR franchise is known to pick up lesser-known faces during the Auction and nurture those young talents during the season of IPL!

Breaking-free from their image, the Rajasthan Royals for the first time has banked heavily on the tried and tested names in the cricketing circuit. Their selection of England's all-rounder Ben Stokes was one of the testimonies of the fact that they were no longer conservative spenders during IPL Auction 2018. Updated IPL 2018 Points Table.

Apart from him, the Rajasthan based team snapped Jaydev Unadkat for INR 11.50 Crore as he became the most expensive Indian at the auction. Royals will be captained by Australia’s Steven Smith and he has players like Ajinkya Rahane, Stuart Binny, Darcy Short and Sanju Samson on his side.

Rajasthan Royals open their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an away game on April 09. Royals with them see the return of Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur as an IPL venue and the ground will host the first home game of the season on April 11.

The Royals last played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in 2013 and then had to shift their base to Ahmedabad and Pune due to the suspension of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA). With the association back on BCCI’s fold, Sawai Mansingh Stadium was cleared to host the IPL 2018 games.

Here’s a look at the complete schedule of RR for IPL 2018:

Date Teams Time (IST) Venue
April 9 SRH vs RR 8:00 PM Rajiv Gandhi Intl. Cricket Stadium
April 11 RR vs DD 8:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
April 15 RCB vs RR 4:00 PM M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
April 18 RR vs KKR 8:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
April 20 CSK vs RR 8:00 PM MCA International Stadium
April 22 RR vs MI 8:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
April 29 RR vs SRH 4:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
May 2 DD vs RR 8:00 PM Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi
May 6 KXIP vs RR 8:00 PM Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore
May 8 RR vs KXIP 8:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
May 11 RR vs CSK 8:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
May 13 MI vs RR 8:00 PM Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
May 15 KKR vs RR 8:00 PM Eden Gardens, Kolkata
May 19 RR vs RCB 4:00 PM Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Full Rajasthan Royals (RR) Squad for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018:

Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Heinrich Klaasen, Benjamin Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Darcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, and Mahipal Lomror.

With two of the costliest players (of IPL Auction 2018) on their side this season, the Rajasthan franchise will be hoping to replicate their first season's performance this year. Also, with Shane Warne back with the franchise, as a mentor this time, it might be an interesting year for Rajasthan Royals!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 23, 2018 04:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).