Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 Squad SWOT Analysis: The 18^th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) is less than a month away starting with the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) taking on each other in a tournament opener on March 22 in Kolkata. Every franchise will now look to make their best combination for the IPL 2025 season, considering their strengths and weaknesses. Today, we will do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad for the new season. So let’s start.

Rajasthan Royals (RR) Retained Players Before the IPL 2025 Auction

First of all, let’s have a look at the retained players by RR before the IPL 2025 auction. They have retained 6 players and spent INR 79 crore.

RR Retained Players:-

RR retention list consists of 5 capped (one overseas), and one uncapped player. They have retained Sanju Samson who will lead the side in IPL 2025. Yashasvi got the reward for his outstanding run in the last 1.5 years.

Other than those two, RR went with Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel. Parag has done well last season, performing consistently and winning games for the team. Jurel, on the other hand, looks like a long-term investment from the franchise. Whatever little we have seen of Jurel, he has impressed with his potential.

Hetmyer will play a key role in the lower middle order, playing the role of a finisher. RR has made a bold decision to leave Jos Buttler out before the IPL 2025 auction. They have also left out their new ball bowler Trent Boult. Sandeep Sharma has been retained as an uncapped player.

RR buys in IPL 2025 Auction

RR has been able to get Jofra Archer on their side. They have also brought the two Sri Lankan spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga. Nitish Rana and Tushar Deshpande were the other two Indian core names in the squad.

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Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 Full Squad:-

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

Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 Squad SWOT Analysis

Strength

A strong bowling line-up

One of the main strengths of RR’s squad is their bowling. They have Jofra Archer in the team, an out-and-out wicket-taking fast bowler. He can bowl in the powerplay, in the middle overs if the captain needs a wicket, and in the death overs to restrict runs and pick wickets.

They also have the two SL spinners, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana on the team. If they play together, their 8 overs will be crucial as they can pick wickets in the middle overs. Nowadays, the spinners control the game in the middle overs. The two SL spinners can do the job for the team.

Rajasthan Royals also have Akash Madhwal who has done well while playing for Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2023. Sandeep Sharma is one of the most underrated bowlers in IPL history. He can be a good option with the new ball and has improved a lot as a death-overs bowler.

Weakness

Batting Line-up Needs to Step Up

A slight weakness we can see in RR’s team is their batting unit. They do have some of the young fearless batters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel, but all three haven’t performed consistently in the IPL.

Yashasvi had an off-season in 2024 according to his standard. Parag has done well consistently for the first time in so many years. Dhruv Jurel didn’t get ample opportunity to prove his mettle in IPL 2024.

As far as Shimron Hetmyer is concerned, he only plays franchise cricket with very less appearances for West Indies (WI). In the recent games in franchise cricket, he hasn’t made a huge impact for his respective teams.

RR needs the big players in the batting unit to step up, along with some local talent like Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, etc.

Not a Competitive Bench Strength

RR’s first XI is more or less decided, but they don’t have a backup option for those players. If there is an injury concern in between the IPL 2025, they don’t have the options of players of the caliber like Sanju, Yashasvi, Archer, and Hetmyer.

Also, they don’t have a big name in the Indian spin-bowling department. Kumar Kartikeya is one option in the team, but they have to rely on the two SL spinners for the role.

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Opportunities

It’s been a while since the Rajasthan Royals won an IPL title. They won the trophy in the inaugural season, but since then, they came close but didn’t cross the line. It’s an opportunity for them to show the world that they are here to win the trophy. Sanju and his men mean business. They have a decent unit that can do the job for them.

On an individual players front, it’s an opportunity for Riyan Parag to prove that last season’s performances weren’t a fluke. He has been with the franchise since 2018. He needs to repay the faith the franchise has shown in him.

Threats

The threat is something we have already discussed in the weaknesses. Some of the batters haven’t played much cricket in the last few months.

Also, we have seen Sanju Samson struggling against the short-ball in a home series against England. His weakness is exposed to the world. If he continues to struggle on a particular delivery, we might see him not making a huge impact in IPL 2025.

Players To Watch Out For This Season/ Important Players for RR

Yashasvi Jaiswal

Jaiswal is one of the rising stars in Indian Cricket. He can be one of the players to watch out for RR in IPL 2025. If he does well at the top, it will be a platform set for the upcoming batters, along with Sanju Samson. We might also see him in the leadership group in a few years to come.

Jofra Archer

There are a lot of expectations from Jofra Archer by RR fans. He needs to put the pressure on the opposition with the new ball and restrict runs in the last few overs.

Wanindu Hasaranga

Hasaranga is a full package. He can bowl in the middle overs and is a genuine wicket-taking option. The Sri Lankan can also contribute with the bat lower down the order and is a good fielder.

RR Playing XI (Predicted): IPL 2025

Sanju Samson (c) and (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande.

They can use Akash Madhwal, or Yudhvir Singh as an impact player if they need an extra bowling option. As far as batting, they can bring in Shubham Dubey, or Vaibhav Suryavanshi as an impact sub if they need an extra batter.

DISCLAIMER: It is not a given that this playing XI will play in all the games. We have predicted an XI that might start in the initial phase of the tournament according to our understanding and analysis. The franchise can change their XI according to the conditions, player’s form, and match situation.

So this is the SWOT analysis of Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2025. We have analyzed the team according to our understanding. What do you think? Will RR make it big this season? Comment your prediction below.

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