Rajasthan Royals

Infobox cricket team
county=Rajasthan Royals


colors = |colors= Blue and Gold Cr-IPL/Flags|raja
coach= flagicon|AUS Shane Warne [http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/current/story/339856.html Cricinfo - Kepler Wessels to coach Chennai Super Kings ] ]
captain= flagicon|AUS Shane Warne
founded=2008
ground= Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, India
owner= Emerging Media
capacity= 50,000
ceo=flagicon|ENG Manoj Badale
website= [http://www.rajasthanroyals.com Rajasthan Royals]
league= Indian Premier League
2008=Champions

Rajasthan Royals is a franchise cricket team that represents the state of Rajasthan in the IPL. The team is led and coached by Shane Warne. There was no Icon Player and brand ambassador for the team and it is the only IPL team to have a foreign captain and coach. The team's mascot is a lion named Moochu Singh [http://www.rajasthanroyals.com/Default.aspx?pageID=62 Rajasthan Royals launch party] ] . The team anthem, 'Halla Bol' is sung by Ila Arun. The video was directed by Indrajit Nattoji of Blink Pictures. Leicestershire spinner Jeremy Snape signed on with the Rajasthan Royals as their high-performance coach and team psychologist. They became the champions of the inaugural IPL tournament.

Franchise History

The Rajasthan Royals franchise is owned by Emerging Media group and is Chaired by Manoj Badale. Other investors include Lachlan Murdoch and Suresh Chellaram. The Group acquired the franchise for $67 million. Incidentally, this was the least expensive franchise in the Indian Premier League and probably the least fancied team in the league at the beginning of the tournament.

2008 IPL Season

Prior to the start of the inaugural IPL season, many considered the Royals as possibly the weakest team in the IPL, giving them little chance of competing well in the tournament. [cite web|url=http://www.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Other-sports/2008/04/16/Cricket-IPL-preview/?facets/sport-space/great-britain-locale/cricket/|title=IPL preview|publisher=Setana Sports|date=2008-04-16|accessdate=2008-05-27] Evidence of the latter opinion seemed to be confirmed when the team lost its first match against the Delhi Daredevils in a 9 wicket loss. [cite web|url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/engine/match/335984.html|title=Match 3|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-04-19|accessdate=2008-05-27] However the Royals won their next game by defeating the Kings XI Punjab and continued to win the next five games in a row. The Royals built up an impressive 11-3 record after their fourteen premilinary round matches; this included a consecutive 5-game and 6-game winning streak with an undefeated record on their home ground and a spot at the top of the points table. They were also the first team to book a place in the semifinals with their 65 run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Shane Warne's captaincy and simultaneous coaching was praised and well received by everyone, [cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/351819.html|title=Warne wants to keep winning|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-05-04|accessdate=2008-05-26] [cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/349936.html|title=The magic of Shane|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-05-21|accessdate=2008-05-26] including opposition teams. [cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/350975.html|title=Not over till the fat laddie leads|publisher=Cricinfo|date=|accessdate=2008-05-26] In addition, many players of the Royals team have consistently played well. The Royals secured a place in the finals with a victory against the Delhi Daredevils.

Champions of the Tournament

The Rajasthan Royals became the winners of the first IPL tournament, when they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 3 wickets in the final played on 1 June, 2008. With the scores level with one ball remaining, Sohail Tanvir scored the winning run and therefore prevented the match from being decided on a bowl out. [cite web|url=http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/353226.html|title=Rajasthan champions after cliffhanger|publisher=Cricinfo|date=|accessdate=2008-06-02]

Each player and representative on the team was awarded a medal and the team was presented with the DLF Indian Premier League trophy along with a cheque for US$ 1.2 million prize money. Many of the Royals' players also took home individual awards for their performance during the tournament; Yusuf Pathan claimed the Man of the Match award for the final match, Sohail Tanvir finished the tournament in possession of the Purple Cap (the Tournament's leading wicket taker) and Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was declared the Man of the Series.

Jaipur bombings

As a result of the bombings in Jaipur, their match on 17 May 2008 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore came under threat of being moved to Bangalore or even being cancelled. However, the match went on as planned at the home stadium in Jaipur.

There were reports that foreign players in the team felt unsafe and threatened to leave the team, as a result of the bombings. Through the efforts of team CEO Fraser Castellino however, players were convinced to stay [cite web|url=http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/News/News/articleshow/3047276.cms|title=It took some efforts to persuade players to stay: Fraser|publisher=Times of India|date=2008-05-16|accessdate=2008-05-28] [cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/351055.html|title=Rajasthan stars consider going home after bomb blasts|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-0515|accessdate=2008-05-26] .Later, South African captain and team opener Graeme Smith wrote in a newpaper column that

The match went on as planned with increased security arrangements. [cite web|url=http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/351094.html|title=Rajasthan players to stay on in India|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-05-15|accessdate=2008-05-26] Security specialists Nicholas Steyn and Associates were also called in from South Africa to supervise the security arrangments.

Players

Rajasthan Royals were the least active franchise during the players auction. The team didn't have a designated icon player, which saved a lot of cap space for the franchise. However the franchise was surprisingly low key during the auction, and in the end got penalized by the IPL committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria of $3.3 million. [cite web|url=http://content-www.cricinfo.com/baggygreen/content/story/338103.html|title=Jaipur franchise to be penalised|publisher=Cricinfo|date=|accessdate= ] The highest bid by Rajasthan Royals was for the Indian middle order batsman Mohammad Kaif, who came off the board at $675,000. Shane Warne was named the coach and the captain of the side. The Royals are unique as they are the only side to have an English cricketer in their squad, Hampshire's all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas who only played one match, against the Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur on 11th May, before returning back to England. The Rajasthan Royals also selected Justin Langer and Morne Morkel in the player auction, but both declined to instead play county cricket. [cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/23/2170657.htm|title=Langer says no to IPL|publisher=www.abc.net.au|date=2008-02-23|accessdate=] [cite web|url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/342433.html|title=Morne will play for Yorkshire|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-03-14|accessdate=]

Current Squad

Batsmen

taff

Administration:
*Owner(s) – Emerging Media - Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch, Suresh Chellaram
*CEO – Manoj Badale
*President – TBA

Coaches:
*Head Coach – Shane Warne
*High Performance Coach and Psychologist – Jeremy Snape [cite web|url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ipl/content/story/345617.html|title=Snape joins IPL in coaching role|publisher=Cricinfo|date=2008-04-08|accessdate=]
*Physiotherapist – John Gloster
*Assistant Coach – Harish Joshi
*Performance Analyst – Mohsin Sheikh
*Director Of Coaching – Darren Berry

Fixtures and Results

Rajasthan Royals 2008 SeasonWebSlice-begin|id=1|title=Rajasthan Royals IPL FixturesWebSlice-end

External links

* [http://www.rajasthanroyals.com/ Official Rajasthan Royals Site]
* [http://dev.iplt20.com/teams/profile.html?team_id=1110 Royals Section @ the Official IPL Site]
* [http://ishare.rediff.com/filevideo.php?id=142818 Royals Anthem & Promo Video, Halla Bol!]
* [http://www.rajasthanroyals.com/news20080505.aspx Royals & BITS-Pilani International Fan Base]
* [http://www.openpr.com/news/46410/Made-for-each-other-winning-partnership-BITSAA-International-Inc-Rajasthan-Royals.html Made for each other winning partnership BITSAA International Inc Rajasthan Royals]
* [http://www.pr-inside.com/bitsaa-international-bond-with-the-best-r628369.htm BITSAA International Bond with the Best Rajasthan Royals Beats the Rest]
* [http://www.prlog.org/10078087-bitsaa-international-celebrations-galore-rajasthan-royals-ipl-victory.html BITSAA International Celebrations Galore Rajasthan Royals IPL Victory]

References