RR Squad IPL 2025

As much as things seem to change for Rajasthan Royals, somewhere and somehow they also remain the same. While they head into IPL 2025 without some of their biggest stars such as Jos Buttler, they have three franchise stalwarts in captain Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, all three of whom have received plenty of faith through the years and have delivered on that promise. Significantly, they also welcome back former coach Rahul Dravid, and in bringing the Wall back to Jaipur, hope to roll back the glory days as well.

While Samson, Parag, and Jaiswal form a fearsome top three that was kept in place via retentions ahead of the auction, there will be a big responsibility for this Royals team to replace Jos Buttler, who served the team with great distinction throughout his time in pink, but was let go. Royals did go for the maximum six retentions, meaning they didn’t have too much money to break the bank. They went looking for value in the batting department, bringing in a floater who sits well with the bones of the Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer middle order: Nitish Rana is a batter who can play anywhere from three to six, and will allow for RR to play around with matchups dependent on what suits which situation best.

On the bowling front, their only retention was Sandeep Sharma, who is a useful all-phases option but not one you would depend on to lead a pace attack. This therefore saw the return of Jofra Archer to RR, the team with which he won IPL MVP honours not all that long ago. Of course, Jofra is a different bowler after all his injuries, less pacy and less dangerous, more likely to be taken for runs. He will depend on help from players such as Tushar Deshpande, and a spin attack of Hasaranga and Theekshana.

All in all, this isn’t a team that is as well balanced and well-constructed as their team of the previous cycle was, with fewer high-end pace options and a reliance on overseas spin, which is never a great sign for any IPL team. A lot of the heavy lifting will be done by that trio of Samson-Jaiswal-Parag at the top: if they are able to recreate their form of the last season, they stand a chance. If they slip up, there might not be enough quality in the bowling to bail RR out. For the same reason, a lot will be expected of Shimron Hetmyer, who has consistently been an excellent number-five type batter for several IPL teams, and will need to shoulder some more responsibility as the main overseas batter in this lineup.

There is depth in youth — not least the uber-exciting Vaibhav Suryavanshi, but also the likes of South Africa Kwena Maphaka, who looks ready for that jump up. It could be a grind of a season for RR, but expect them to be a fun team to watch.

RR squad IPL 2025: Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Kunal Singh Rathore, Nitish Rana, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Wanindu Hasaranga, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Akash Madhwal, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ashok Sharma, Kwena Maphaka, Kumar Kartikeya, Maheesh Theekshana.

Rajasthan Royals full squad: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.

Follow IPL 2025 action on Crickit with the latest IPL Match Today, updated IPL Points Table, and top contenders for the Orange Cap in IPL 2025 and Purple Cap in IPL 2025. Stay tuned for all the IPL updates!