Rajasthan Royals Cricket Team – The History of the Team

Rajasthan Royals (or RR) are a franchise cricket team that plays in the Indian Premier League. The team was founded with the initial eight IPL teams established in 2008; it is based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The RR team is known for unearthing high potential talent and involvement in some scandals and controversies.

The team has its home ground at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, built during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh. However, like every other cricket team, Rajasthan Royals is not without its history, highs, and lows. This article examines everything you need to know about how Rajasthan Royals got to where it is today.

Rajasthan Royals Franchise History

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) announced the establishment of IPL at a Twenty20 competition that was to start in 2008. Eight teams were formed in the IPL’s inaugural season in 2008, and the Rajasthan Royals were one of them. 

With a bid of $67 million, Emerging Media gained ownership of the franchise, making the team the least expensive in the league.

Emerging Media remained the team’s owner as of 2021, with a 65% stake with other key minority stakeholders. Two of the key minority stakeholders are RedBird Capital and Lachian Murdoch. There have been controversies concerning the ownership of the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the past. These controversies led to a brief expulsion of the team from the IPL in 2010. 

Rajasthan Royals Expulsion and Return

Before the inaugural IPL season in 2008 started, many believed the Royals were the weakest team in the IPL. This gave them little chance of competing to the best of their ability in the tournament. 

The assumptions were later proved correct when the team lost its first match in a nine-wicket loss against the Delhi Daredevils. Their defeat confirmed the fears that this team was likely to struggle.

In their first home game at the franchises’ home stadium, the team played against the Kings XI Punjab and won six wickets. In a successful run chase, Shane Watson was declared the man of the match for 76 off 49 balls. The win was followed by a crucial three-wicket win against Deccan Chargers, the season’s favorite, making them the best team in IPL then. This victory boosted the team’s morale as the team won many more cricket matches after that.

The team released eight players for the 2021 IPL tournament on January 20, 2021, with their captain, Steve Smith. It was announced on the same day that the new captain for the 2021 season would be Sanju Samson.

Rajasthan Royals Awards and Scandal

The Sawai Mansingh stadium became one of the best in India after the renovation in 2006; it has 30,000 seats. Rajasthan Royals Cricket Team won the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League under Shane Warne’s captaincy. The team won the victory despite being written off as a title contender by fans and the media. The team was also the runners-up under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy at the Champions League Twenty20 in 2013.

The team was once suspended on July 14, 2015, for two years over a betting scandal that happened in 2015. As a result, the team couldn’t participate in the 2016 and 2017 IPL tournaments; they returned in 2018. The team was the source of the controversy when fictitious and inappropriate bids were made during a tournament. They violated the BCCI norms, with Ranjit Barthakur and Fraser Cstellino being the team’s two shareholders, and were promptly suspended.

This led to the team getting banned for two years by the BCCI, and Raj Kundra, the team’s owner, was banned for life. The Rajasthan Royals Cricket Team’s record run-scorer is Ajinkya, with Shane Watson as the leading wicket-taker.

While it is difficult to look past these many scandals, it is important to note that many teams have their scandals. What matters most is managing these scandals and keeping the team in form. Interestingly, that appears to be what this team is up to. With several competitions to play soon, the team needs to get together and get back to winning ways.

More individuals with the right technique have to be appointed to the coaching staff to return that vibrancy to the team. Players must understand that it is their team, and they have to give their best every time they have the jerseys on. 

The fans are not left out as they owe a duty to continually back their clubs through the wins and losses. If all of these are implemented, we might be seeing glorious Rajasthan Royals again.

Conclusion

Rajasthan Royals Cricket Team is one of the first eight teams formed for the first-ever IPL tournament held in 2008. The team, led by Sanju Samson, has predominantly pink jerseys with blue accents. The team is Halla Bol; its major rivals are Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals. 

Understanding the history and stories behind the rise of this cricket team will not only help you as a fan, but it will also help you as a bettor. Furthermore, it will ensure you make better gaming decisions when predicting the outcomes of their games.