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IPL team: Rajasthan Royals


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Jaipur play their cards well While spending just under three-fourths of the near US$ 5 million that the seven franchises have spent, Jaipur's strategy of staggering their purchases across the two auctions seems to have worked. More... Indian Premier League 2007-08 Jaipur play their cards well Ajay S Shankar March 11, 2008 319318.jpgSohail Tanvir was one of the players roped in during the second round of auctions © AFP "I don't know what they are doing," remarked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi about Jaipur, his home team, after the first players' auction in Mumbai on February 20. Of the nearly US$ 42 million that was spent by the eight teams on blockbuster names, Jaipur had spent only around US$ 2.95 million. On Tuesday, after the second auction, Jaipur spent just US$ 385,000 more but emerged with the biggest smile of them all. For a total of US$ 3.35 million - just half a million over what Chennai and Hyderabad spent for MS Dhoni and Andrew Symonds in the first auction - Jaipur's Rajasthan Royals are looking quite formidable: Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Shane Watson, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Kamran Akmal, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Morne Morkel and Sohail Tanvir. "We have put together a great squad from the two auctions at our price," Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the franchise, told Cricinfo. "I would call this a victory for us. Other teams have great squads too, but now I believe they may have overspent a bit. We believe we are well-placed now, as good as any of the other teams." While spending just under three-fourths of the near US$ 5 million that the seven franchises have spent, Jaipur's strategy of staggering their purchases across the two auctions seems to have worked. "We would like to be called a strategic franchise now," Castellino said. "After today, few people will say we are a weak team. There were a lot of people who made fun of us last time. What they failed to understand then was we had a clear strategy, and we were as sure as they were that this was serious business." On Tuesday, Jaipur started the ball rolling by picking up England allrounder Mascarenhas (US$ 100,000), with whom they had been negotiating for the last few days. Hampshire's Twenty20 specialist was a last-minute addition to the auction after being cleared early on Tuesday morning by the county, which also has Warne on its rolls. Then, they bought Australian allrounder Watson (US$ 125,000), South Africa fast bowler Morkel (US$ 60,000) and Pakistan left-arm seamer Tanvir (US$ 100,000). Explaining the strategy, Castellino said, "Yes, there were good players in the first auction. But we also knew then that there were a lot of good Twenty20 specialists who missed out and who would come into play in the second auction. We targeted them this time, and our strategy has worked." However, Jaipur could still run into some trouble with the second part of their strategy - tackling the minimum cap of US$ 3.3 million for the first auction in two attempts. While Castellino claimed that the cap covered the entire auction process and included the amount spent in the second auction as well, IPL governing council member IS Bindra told Cricinfo that the penalty for falling short last month "still stands". "It was very clear early on that the first auction was just the first step," Castellino said. "All the franchises knew then that there would be a second auction. And as far as we are concerned, we have crossed the minimum cap and adhered to the rules." Jaipur now plans to rope in some more players from India, some of them through their Cricket Star talent hunt, steered by former India coach Greg Chappell. "We will be taking a few more players from India, especially through our Cricket Star programme through which we are currently talent-spotting across the country," Castellino said. "If we find some exceptional talent we will fast-track him into the team this season, but there will be somebody from the programme in the team definitely next time."

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Snape joins IPL in coaching role Jeremy Snape will team up with his England Twenty20 team-mate, Dimitri Mascarenhas, after joining the Rajasthan Royals franchise as a performance coach for the forthcoming Indian Premier League. More... Indian Premier League Snape joins IPL in coaching role Cricinfo staff April 8, 2008 Jeremy Snape will team up with his England Twenty20 team-mate, Dimitri Mascarenhas, after joining the Rajasthan Royals franchise as a performance coach for the forthcoming Indian Premier League. Snape, 34, has made a name for himself as a Twenty20 specialist since the format was first piloted in England in 2003, and he has helped his Leicestershire team to each of the first four finals days, including the title in 2004. On the strength of these performances, he was selected for September's inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa. The news comes a day after the chairman of the England & Wales Cricket Board, Giles Clarke, hardened his stance against English participation in the IPL, but a statement from Snape's county side said: "Leicestershire are very supportive of his involvement and are sure that he can pass on the experiences gained in India to our younger players, particularly, in our Twenty20 campaign." Snape will miss four county games during his stint with Rajasthan; the Friends Provident Trophy tie against Northamptonshire followed by the first three rounds of the County Championship. Apart from Mascarenhas, he will be playing alongside the likes of Shane Warne and Justin Langer.

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Lehman to replace Smith for first two IPL games Rajasthan Royals have roped in former Australia batsman Darren Lehman as replacement for South Africa captain Graeme Smith for their first two matches in the Indian Premier League. Smith has returned to his country after the recent Test series against India and will turn out for Cape Cobras in the South African domestic Pro 20 tournament which is at the semi-finals stage. More... Lehman to replace Smith for first two IPL games April 15, 2008 20:39 IST Rajasthan Royals have roped in former Australia batsman Darren Lehman as replacement for South Africa captain Graeme Smith [images] for their first two matches in the Indian Premier League. Smith has returned to his country after the recent Test series against India and will turn out for Cape Cobras in the South African domestic Pro 20 tournament which is at the semi-finals stage. He will rejoin the Jaipur team, led by Australian spin legend Shane Warne [images] from April 24. "Graeme Smith of the Rajasthan Royals will be replaced by Australian batsman Darren Lehman for their first two matches and will rejoin the team from April 24," said a statement. Cricket South Africa had instructed its national players to fulfill their domestic commitments before turning out for their IPL franchises. Interestingly, Smith's Cape Cobras team-mates Jacques Kallis [images], Mark Boucher [images] and Ashwell Prince were cleared by their domestic team to play in the IPL from the beginning as they were not named in the squad for Pro 20 semi-final on April 18. Kallis and Boucher will play for Bangalore Royal Challengers while Ashwell Prince will turn out for Mumbai Indians. The 38-year-old Lehman played 27 Tests and 117 one-day internationals for Australia and was part of the Aussie World Cup-winning squads in 1999 and 2003. Smith will miss Rajasthan Royals' opening fixture against Delhi Daredevils at Ferozeshah Kotla on April 19 as well as the home match against Kings XI Punjab two days later. He is expected to be back in time for the game against Deccan Chargers on April 24 in Hyderabad.

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Royals aren't that bad a side, but their fielding needs to improve. They were terrible in the field today and a better team would have punished them much harder than Punjab did. They are a tricky team that can beat anyone on their day. Gotta love Warney though - the man is an absolute legend, best spinner that ever lived; his charisma and class is enough to lift the Royals to another level. Watson is a very handy T20 player and so is Yusuf, even though he hasn't done anything for them yet. They will be a tough team at home.

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