IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals likely to release their captain Steve Smith ahead of IPL 2021.
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021: Rajasthan Royals are most likely to free Steve Smith ahead of the IPL 2021. The Rajasthan based franchise will come on the final call shortly before submitting the final list of the released players. BCCI has asked all the franchises to provide the final list of released players by January 20.
One of the strongest reason behind this call is Smith’s poor average form in the previous IPL. Rajasthan Royals has not done well in the past under Smith’s leadership. Smith’s impact as a leader and as a batsman has not been beneficial to the team till now. The Australian batsman amassed 311 runs in 14 outings with a strike rate of 131 which includes three half-centuries.
Rajasthan Royals have won the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League and since then the search for another is still on. The previous season the franchise finished last at the end of the league stages.
Sanju Samson strong name for becoming the Captain of Rajasthan Royals:
It is also understood that Royals desperately need a strong Indian core which they are lacking. The side is packed with the high rated overseas stars which make their core. Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jos Buttler are the prominent overseas names in the list.
If Steve Smith gets free from the franchise, Royals will require a new captain. Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson is the notable name. Samson recently captained Kerala in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Sanju Samson was also the leading run-scorer for Rajasthan Royals in 2020 edition of Indian Premier League. He was also picked for the Australian white-ball leg for his dominant performance in the IPL.
According to the sources, the management is not showing interest in making Englishmen Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes the skipper of the side due to their unavailability. It is seen that the English pair arrived late in the previous season and sometimes leaves soon from the IPL.
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