11 – that is the number of Rajasthan Royals boys who have been retained for IPL 2020. The same number of players have also been released, while 3 were traded in to the squad. One of the world’s finest batsmen, Steve Smith will be captain of the side in Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. We have maintained our core and left a few spots to be filled during the auction on December 19th. After all the trades and releases, we have INR 28.9 Crores in our purse. Let’s quickly run through the set of all the retained Royals. Steve Smith (c) The Australian made an emphatic return to international cricket across all formats of the game. Steve Smith is turning into an unstoppable force. Having captained the Royals in 2015 and in the latter part of the 2019 season, he will lead the Royals on the field in IPL 2020. Right after he was named captain, we got Smith’s reaction. “It\"s an honour to be named the Rajasthan Royals captain for the 2020 season. It’s been a pleasure leading the Royals in previous years and I can\"t wait to play alongside this extremely talented squad, plus those we pick up in the auction!” Sanju Samson He was one of our finds, and we have seen him grow into an amazing batsman over the years. Sanju scored a gorgeous hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, and we would love to see some more gracious knocks by this man in 2020. Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes & Jofra Archer England World Cup winning trio were brought together for the first time at Rajasthan Royals. And, we would like to keep it like that for next season too. All of them have had an incredible year with the World Cup title taking the cake. Buttler has had tremendous success opening for us in the last two years. He has single-handedly won games for us when losing would have ruled us out of contention for the Playoffs. Ben Stokes was England’s World Cup hero. Right from their first WC game to the final, Stokes pulled made his contributions count. He starred with a couple of magnificent performances in the Ashes as well. Right after the 2019 IPL, Jofra Archer made his England debut. Since then, he has had a joy ride in all the three formats. Archer is one of the fastest bowlers in the IPL and he will be a key bowler for us in 2020. Shreyas Gopal RR’s hat-trick hero from the 2019 season ain’t going anywhere! Shreyas has been a consistent performer for us over the last two seasons. He has got the better of some formidable batsmen on multiple occasions in the IPL. Gopal is a key spinner for the team and a gem of a talent. Riyan Parag This man was perhaps the find of the 2019 season for us. At just 18, Riyan can hit the ball pretty hard and quite far. He can also be clever with his off-spinners and the occasional carrom ball. We see him championing his dreams at RR and beyond. We will definitely get to see those cute celebrations in IPL 2020. Manan Vohra While Manan Vohra didn’t feature in a game in the 2019 season, we all know what he is capable of as an opener. The Chandigarh skipper has been in good nick of late. A sweet timer of the ball, Manan can be devastating for the opposition during the Powerplay. Shashank Singh Shashank has proven to be a fine all-rounder for Chhattisgarh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well as the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He can smash them out of the park during the death and can be nippy with the ball as well; all In all, a valuable all-rounder to have in our ranks. Varun Aaron We have no dearth of pace with Varun Aaron in the side. Aaron made some vital contributions for the team in the second half of the 2019 season. His ability to swing the ball at pace makes him a difficult customer to face. And let’s not forget, all the lovely food he can cook and feed all the other Royals. Mahipal Lomror Last, but not the least, Rajasthan’s very own stays at Rajasthan Royals. Lomror is a big hitter and a smart left-arm spinner. The 19-year old (turns 20 on 16th November) brings in the local flair to our Royals Family. He has been in the squad for two years now, and is ready for the hat-trick. These 11 players form the core of the Rajasthan Royals team. We have added 3 more, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia & Ankit Rajpoot, through trades over the last couple of days. The 11 released boys have been part of a lovely journey in 2019, and we wish them all the best, going forward. Come 19th December, the Royals Family will see some new faces.