Rajasthan Royals : RR

The Rajasthan Royals (often abbreviated as RR) are a franchise cricket team based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 as one of the initial eight IPL franchises, the team is based at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The Royals are known to unearth obscure, high potential talent,[4][5][6] as well as for their involvement in a number of controversies and scandals.

The team won the inaugural edition of the IPL under the captaincy of Shane Warne, despite being written off as a title contender by the media and fans. The Royals were also the runners-up of the 2013 Champions League Twenty20 under Rahul Dravid's captaincy.

On 14 July 2015, the verdict reached by a panel appointed by the Supreme Court of India suspended Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings for two years over a 2013 betting scandal, meaning they could not participate in both the 2016 and 2017 IPL tournaments. They returned to the competition for the 2018 season.

The team's record run-scorer is Ajinkya Rahane with 3098 runs, while the leading wicket-taker is Shane Watson, with 67.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the establishment of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in September 2007, a Twenty20 competition to be started in 2008. The Rajasthan Royals were one of the original eight teams in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008. Emerging Media gained ownership of the Jaipur-based franchise team with a bid of $67 million, making it the least expensive team in the league.

As of 2021, the franchise is owned by Manoj Badale-led Emerging Media IPL Ltd which holds a 65% stake. Key minority stakeholders include Lachlan Murdoch and RedBird Capital Partners. There have been past controversies regarding the ownership of the franchise, leading to a brief expulsion of the team from the league in 2010. The franchise made a pre-tax profit of $7.5 million in 2009.

Traditionally, the Rajasthan Royals usually purchase cricketers who are relatively unknown or uncapped, that is, not played for their nation, at cut-throat prices. The Royals are famous for their frugal spending in the IPL auctions, even during the mega-auctions held once in 3 years. They have even bought players who had previously never played first-class cricket such as Dinesh Salunkhe and Pravin Tambe. The team has also purchased leading cricketers at various times in their history like Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Rahul Dravid, Shane Watson, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Mohammad Kaif, Shaun Tait, Ross Taylor, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, and Brad Hogg to name a few.

Many of the cricketers who have played for the Royals, having been bought by them as relatively unknown players, have ended up as leading international cricketers partly due to their strong performances in the IPL and backing from the Royals management. In the initial seasons, such players included Taruwar Kohli, who was acquired by the franchise in 2008 under the Under-19 player quota and Yusuf Pathan, the elder brother of the Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan and a relative unknown in cricketing circles unlike his more-celebrated younger brother. Yusuf's brilliant performances in the initial seasons of the IPL earned him a place in the Indian cricket team and he was a member of the Indian squad which won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Even Australian Shane Watson, who has played for the Royals ever since its inception, became a permanent, consistent and leading member of the Australian cricket team soon after his brilliant first season with the Royals in 2008. In the later seasons, these players have included Indian cricketers such as Ajinkya Rahane, wicket-keeper-batsman Sanju Samson, leg-spinner Tambe, whose performances for the Royals earned him a Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai at the age of 42.