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The Rajasthan Royals (RR), which has the distinction of becoming the first champion in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has lost its two biggest batsmen in the last two seasons. RR had let Jos Buttler go before the IPL 2025 mega auction. He had retained Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Sandeep Sharma among the Indian players. Along with him, trust was also maintained on Shimron Hetmyer.

Butler’s departure was a big blow for RR. This team stood 9th in IPL 2025. After this Sanju Samson also left this franchise. Sanju was traded and joined Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Sanju and Butler are the highest IPL run scorers for RR. It will not be easy to fill the place of these two but captain Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal are now ready to take the responsibility.

All eyes on Yashasvi-Parag

Now all the young batsmen are left in the RR team. In such a situation, all eyes are on Parag and Yashasvi. Both these 24-24 year old players have been associated with this franchise for a long time. Ryan started his IPL career with RR in 2019. Yashasvi joined this franchise in 2020. Yashasvi has become the fifth highest IPL run scorer for RR in just 6 seasons. He has scored 2166 runs in 66 innings.

Parag has played 72 innings for RR in 7 seasons and scored 1566 runs. It is worth noting that he has scored half of these runs in the last two seasons. Ryan will have the responsibility of keeping the scoreboard moving in the middle overs. Yashasvi will lead the top order along with 14 year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi. The good thing for RR is that Shimron Hetmyer has come into form. He can be seen in the role of finisher along with Ravindra Jadeja. Sam Curran will also have the same responsibility. Jadeja-Karan have come after being traded from CSK.

Highest IPL runs for RR

• Sanju Samson – 4027 runs (144 innings)
• Jos Buttler – 3055 runs (82 innings)
• Ajinkya Rahane – 2810 runs (93 innings)
• Shane Watson – 2372 runs (76 innings)
• Yashasvi Jaiswal – 2166 runs (66 innings)
• Riyan Parag – 1566 runs (72 innings)

The first match is in Guwahati

In IPL 2026, RR team will start its campaign against CSK in Guwahati on March 30. This is the second home venue of RR. After this, RR will face Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on April 4. They will then return to Guwahati and face Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 7, while Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 10.

RR schedule in IPL 2026

vs – CSK, 30 March, Guwahati
Vs – GT, 4th April, Ahmedabad
vs – MI, April 7, Guwahati
vs – RCB, April 12, Guwahati

Probable playing-11 of Rajasthan Royals:Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (captain), Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Joffra Archer, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande.

Impact Player – Sandeep Sharma