It’s been a while; two years to be precise! The last time we played Rajasthan Royals was back in 2015, when we won our home game, and lost the encounter away. However, the one game that stands out is the one played at our fortress, the Wankhede, in 2014. We needed to chase a steep target in a stipulated number of overs. It all got down to that one ball when we needed 6 to qualify for the play-offs. Enter Aditya Tare! The local man smashed a six, and charged towards the dug out in celebration, as we made it to the play-offs. We look forward to some more encounters like these in 2018.

After the two years’ absence, Rajasthan Royals were forced to make, more or less, a completely new squad. The only man they retained from their team in 2015, was Steve Smith. They used their Right-to-match card over Ajinkya Rahane & Dhawal Kulkarni. Their top buys at the auction were Ben Stokes, our former wicket-keeper batsman, Jos Buttler & Jaydev Unadkat. They also invested in Karnataka’s Shreyas Gopal & Krishnappa Gowtham who were with us last season.

The Royals’ batting line-up boasts of some exciting talent such as Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, D’Arcy Short to go with the experience of Smith, Rahane, Buttler and Stokes. They have a few Indian bowlers who will be led by the likes of Jyadev Unadkat and Dhawal Kulkarni, while the foreigners comprise of Ben Laughlin, Dushmantha Chameera and Jofra Archer. The Royals picked up another young player in Zahir Khan, from Afghanistan.

Shane Warne returns as their Team Mentor, and will want to get things going smooth from the word go. We play them away on 21st April, at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur, before they come knocking at our door on 13th May, at the Wankhede stadium. We have played 16 games against Rajasthan Royals, and hold a decent lead with 10 wins, while they have 6.

The winners of the inaugural season of the IPL are making their return in 2018. They will be under the scanner, and with a brand new team at their disposal, the Royals will be under some pressure as well. It won’t be easy for them to take on our strong unit. When the two teams clash, there will be a lot of youngsters on both sides.