Sanju Samson has been named the new Rajasthan Royals captain after the franchise released former captain Steve Smith. Oshane Thomas was another big overseas player RR offloaded while Ankit Rajpoot and Anirudh Joshi were among the domestic players released by the franchise ahead of the IPL 2021 player auctions. IPL 2021 Auctions Live News Update.

Rajasthan Royals have failed to lift the IPL trophy since winning the inauguration IPL season in 2008. They have long moved away from the tag of the underdogs and in Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes, have three of the most prominent T20 players in the team. The RR squad also have some promising young players in the side with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kartik Tyagi impressing with their performances in IPL 2020. Riyan Parag have also been performing consistently in the past two years while Rahul Tewatia was find of the IPL last season.

Rajasthan Royals Retain 17 Players

Rajasthan Royals finished at the bottom of the points table last season and have played to reach the IPL playoffs in the past two years. In fact, they have only qualified for the IPL playoffs only thrice since lifting the IPL title in 2008 and have not played the final even once.

List of Released Players: Steve Smith, Oshane Thomas, Ankit Rajpoot, Shashank Singh, Anirudh Joshi, Akash Singh, Varun Aaron and Tom Curran.

List of Retained Players:  Robin Uthappa, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Mayank Markande, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Rahul Tewatia, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Jofra Archer, Andrew Tye, Ben Stokes, Tom Curran, Jos Buttler.

IPL 2021 is reportedly set to start in the final week of March this year. Mumbai Indians are the defending IPL champions and also the most successful team in the history of the tournament with five titles to their name. Rajasthan Royals will search for their second IPL title when the latest edition of the tournament begins.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 20, 2021 06:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).