Rajasthan Royals retained two Indians and one foreign player ahead of the IPL 2022 auction in the shape of influential skipper Sanju Samson, uncapped rookie batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, and great Englishman Jos Buttler.
Kumar Sangakkara, the IPL franchise’s director of cricket, said on Thursday that swashbuckling keeper-batter Sanju Samson is the team’s “long-term leader” and that his retention is a “no-brainer.” (Learn More About Cricket)
The club kept two Indians and one overseas player in the shape of prominent skipper Samson, uncapped rookie batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, and great Englishman Jos Buttler ahead of the IPL 2022 auction.
Sangakkara said in a video posted by RR on Twitter, “We worked really hard in terms of working with our newly-formed data analytic team, with the help of all our partners in India and in the US, we finally decided, of course Sanju Samson, it was a no-brainer in terms of being our captain, number one.”
“He will be the long-term commander of this Rajasthan Royals unit. He is a fantastic player who has shown to be a valuable asset to RR time and time again.”
The Royals have chosen Samson as their first retained player for Rs 14 crore after appointing him as their captain before the 2021 season.
The ODI World Cup-winning Buttler, who is widely regarded as one of the top T20I batters in the world, is their second retained player at a cost of Rs 10 crore.
Before the super auction, the 19-year-old Jaiswal became the second-youngest player ever to be retained across all IPL franchises. At 19 years and 2 months, his skipper Samson is still the youngest.
“We’ve kept Yashasvi Jaiswal, the young Indian opener who is on the verge of becoming a superstar. He had a fantastic season prior to his retention and is highly gifted. He is an extremely rapid learner, a dedicated worker, and our uncapped retention candidate “According to Sangakkara.
“We’ve decided to keep Jos Buttler as our lone international player. Once again, a fantastic player. Everyone knows what he’s capable of, whether he’s at the top of the order or in the middle, or wherever he plays. He has a knack for winning matches.”
Many people were startled when the Lankan legend explained why they let go of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes.
“It was a difficult decision for all of us to sit down and go over the names, alternatives, and the auction nitty gritty in terms of managing our retention and purse, as well as the best options and permutations.
“We dive a lot further and do a lot of work in terms of analytic and evaluation of what the best possibilities are for us in terms of how many retentions, who they are, and what is the perfect sweetspot in terms of an auction purse once the auction rules are revealed.
“And so on,” says the narrator, “and we break everything down into as much detail as possible so that we have all the tools we need to gather the data and make the best conclusion.”
Both Stokes and Archer missed the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 due to injuries, with the former citing mental health difficulties as a reason for his absence.
Sangakkara heaped accolades on Stokes.
“Ben Stokes is the best all-rounder I’ve seen in a long time, a true match winner, as he has demonstrated with Rajasthan Royals. As a team player, he’s outstanding, and as a leader, he’s outstanding.
“He simply brings his incredible energy to the field, but we had to factor in the number of retention spaces and player availability.
“We had to consider a variety of other factors as well, such as injuries and numerous other factors, and it’s always a difficult decision to make when we have such a restricted amount of seats.
Sangakkara stated this regarding Archer: “…we did everything we could to figure out what the injury was, how long it would take him to recuperate, and whether he would be able to return. It’s impossible to go into an auction with too many questions in our heads once all of these factors are in play.
“Even if they are disappointed, I am confident that the players understand our reasoning. I’m confident they are, just like we are as a franchise.”