Guwahati gears up preparations as Rajasthan Royals’ second ‘home’ venue
After the successful conduct of two matches during IPL 2023 last year, Guwahati gears up to welcome back the Indian…
The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League will witness the return of two most popular franchises, Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. Both the teams were banned from IPL for two years due to spot-fixing.
Meanwhile, on Saturday (24 February 2018), Rajasthan Royals are going to announce their skipper for IPL 2018 on Television. Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise Kolkata Knight will follow suit on 4th March.
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.@MohammadKaif is ready for the Royal reveal! Find out who’ll lead @rajasthanroyals on Phir Halla Bol: Return of the Royals on Star Sports! pic.twitter.com/3L5iGvmKZh
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 23, 2018
While talking about the move, Shane Warne, Rajasthan Royals’ mentor, said in a team statement: “A captain is instrumental to create a culture within the team. We indeed have some great choices — the likes of Ben Stokes, Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith who bring leadership values with them. Jos Buttler, too, has capabilities to lead a team.”
In IPL players’ auction, England all-rounder Ben Stokes was the most expensive player. He cost Rs 12.5 crore to RR. On the other hand, Aussies skipper Steve Smith and ‘dependable’ Ajinkya Rahane have shown their leadership skills many times.
Notably, Kolkata Knight will announce their captain for IPL 2018 on 4th March live on Television. While talking about KKR’s captain option, former India, as well as KKR skipper Sourav Ganguly, said that the Kolkata-based team have very limited options as they did not retain Gautam Gambhir.
“In the current team, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik are captaincy material. Whether they will opt for Chris Lynn is a question because not many teams appoint a foreign captain. However, the franchise must give the new captain stability like they gave to Gautam Gambhir,” Ganguly said.
In the much-talked about players’ auction, IPL has seen some players turning out for new franchises. CSK lost R Ashwin to Preity Zinta’s co-owned franchise Kings XI Punjab. And CSK snatched Harbhajan Singh from Mumbai Indians.
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