The release of Steve Smith and subsequently the appointment of Sanju Samson as skipper marks a new era for Rajasthan Royals who boast of a dynamic line-up that appears solid on paper. The injury to Jofra Archer hits them hard, and they will hope he gets back in time for the second half of the season at least.

Major changes we could see

With Archer out for the first few games at least and Smith released, Rajasthan have two slots available to them this season, ones they could potentially fill with players that could iron out a few woes. The biggest signing at the IPL auction, Chris Morris, is one of them. He strengthens their death bowling – an area of concern outside Archer – and also adds lower-order batting firepower, something they sorely lacked last season.

Andrew Tye, who showed more versatility in the Big Bash League this season, could step in for Archer in the first half of the season at least, although they do have the enticing option of playing Mustafizur Rahman as a death overs option.

READ RAJASTHAN ROYALS TEAM PREVIEW HERE

Akash Singh and the exciting Anuj Rawat are others we could see in the starting XI this season. Kartik Tyagi and Liam Livingstone could also get a few odd games. Shivam Dube could also be a prominent feature in the XI in the middle-order role.

RR squad for IPL 2021

Sanju Samson (c), David Miller, Ben Stokes, Chris Morris, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Dube, Jos Buttler, Mayank Markande, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Mustafizur Rahman, Andrew Tye, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tewatia, Anuj Rawat, Shreyas Gopal, KC Cariappa, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldip Yadav

Rajasthan Royals likely first-choice playing XI

Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Anuj Rawat, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi, Andrew Tye (until Archer comes)