Rajasthan Royals (RR) is already in South Africa (SA) and have started playing matches with strong sides in SA.Will Shane Warne and team be able to win the second edition for their new owner (read Shilpa :-)) is the most asked question in the media today.
RR is not my favorites this time around to win the tournament.The basic reason for this observation is, last year the players who helped the team win matches were Yusuf,Watson,R.Jadeja,Asnodkar & importantly S.Tanvir under the great leadership of Shane. All the above players except Shane and Watson will not find it easy playing in SA. S.Tanvir is ruled out of the tournament and Watson should be rusty back into the side after a 2 month rest after injury. Yusuf,R.Jadeja,Asnodkar & Kaif are players who relish the ball to come below the knee roll and don't like the ball coming quick and bouncing above the knee roll and i strongly feel that these players performance in this tournament will be limited. Shane even though playing/coaching competitive cricket through out the year, he is not getting younger by the day and it was showing in the way he was bowling and ground fielding in the first practice game.
Am i sounding little too against RR :-) ok lets see the strengths of RR now
Smith the captain of SA is the biggest strength for RR, he know the wickets,conditions,reads the players better than anyone in today's cricket and should be playing a very important role in the teams preparation and should be behind each every decision on the planning. Basically he is the key think tank of the team along with Shane.Mascarenhas,M.Morkel,S.Trivedi and Munaf Patel should do well in helping conditions. Mascarenhas has been in and out of the England team and has not played much for RR last season should be raring to go here and prove a point to the england selectors. Morkel and Munaf should be too much for any team to handle in the first 6-8 overs, S.Trivedi played the supporting role so well last time and should be hoping to do well this time also.
Yusuf and Asnodkar are just unpredictable players and if they click in bouncy tracks its a bonus and they will just be un-stopable and prove to be match winners. I am eager to see how Jadeja performs in SA, he is a very strong willed player and does not get cowed down by the reputation of the bowler or the batsmen playing against him and wish he does well and makes a strong claim into the Indian T20 side.
Bottom Line:
Shane and Smith are the key people to get this in-experienced side to get united and make them believe that they can win in SA.
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@Vasu I think its a bit early to comment about any team chances at this stage. Only after every team plays a couple of matches we will be able to see if they have any surprise packages.
With Smith at the top of your order any thing can happen. He is now playing the home soil and knows the conditions better than anybody else. I accept that they will sorely miss Tanvir & Watson's services. But they have included a T20 specialist Tyron Henderson who is from SA and also Shaun Tait.
On paper they might seem to be less experienced but you cannot discount the Royals with Warne leading the side.
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