IPL 2022: Royals Sports Group-owned Rajasthan Royals on Friday announced the appointment of Steffan Jones as the franchise’s High-Performance fast bowling coach.
Rajasthan Royals on Friday announced the appointment of Steffan Jones as the franchise’s High-Performance Fast Bowling Coach ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. The 48-year-old former pacer from Wales had previously served as the team’s fast bowling coach in 2019.
As part of his new role, Jones will be responsible for providing high-quality training, guidance and support to all bowlers who are part of the Royals’ set-up throughout the year, with a focus on the off-season and in the build-up to the IPL season, a media release stated.
Jones will be working with the team during their pre-season camp to be held from March 7 to 10 at the Royals’ High-Performance Centre in Nagpur, a post where he will remain with the squad, helping the bowlers prepare for the upcoming season.
“I am delighted to be returning to the Rajasthan Royals and grateful to the management for giving me the opportunity to work with the team again. With a plethora of talented bowlers in our ranks, I’m looking forward to working with them around the year and preparing them to peak and excel when the season comes,” Jones said.
The former pacer will also be providing input to the RR Academies in India and around the world, and aid in the technical integration of the facilities.
The Royals’ current and future players would also have a chance to visit and train under Jones, where former Royals players Jaydev Unadkat and Varun Aaron have also successfully undergone development work in the past during the off-season.
“Steffan has been closely associated with the franchise over the past few years, so he understands the culture perfectly, and brings with him a very able coaching style, which has been appreciated by both players and management in the past,” Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara said.
“We are delighted to welcome him back to the franchise in his new role, wherein he will be working with our bowlers and providing support to them throughout the year, and we’re confident his expertise can guide us to newer heights.”
IPL 2022: Predicted Opening Pair Of Rajasthan Royals (RR)
Rajasthan Royals bought 21 players in the IPL to go with the three they had retained ahead of the auction. Sanju Samson will continue to lead the side as they added names like Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Daryl Mitchell were some of the few crucial players that the team picked during the auction. Prasidh Krishna with Rs. 10 crore was the team’s most expensive player in the auction.
The franchise retained Sanju Samson for 14 crores, Jos Buttler for 10 crores, and Yashasvi Jaiswal for 4 crores heading into the mega auction. Overall the squad looks well-rounded and have a lot of bases covered. The Royals over the years lacked a reputed spinner and a pacer in their ranks. With Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in their ranks they have got the bowling attack sorted as well.
As far as their batting line-up is concerned, Jos Buttler will be open the batting. He has been very successful up at the top for the Royals. Alongside him, for the second opener’s role, the franchise has a few good options. In this article, we take a look at the best possible opening combination for the Royals ahead of IPL 2022.
IPL 2022: Predicted Opening Pair Of Rajasthan Royals
Jos Buttler
Buttler will be one of the four overseas players in the playing XI. He has a reputation of being a T20 specialist at the international level and has proved his mettle in the IPL as well. Buttler is one of the most destructive T20 batsman when on song. He has scored 1441 runs in 41 matches for Rajasthan Royals including one century and 10 fifty-plus scores. An in-form Buttler throughout IPL 2022 would be a real blessing for the Royals.
Devdutt Padikkal / Yashasvi Jaiswal
Padikkal can be an ideal foil for Buttler. He has different gears to his game and can perfectly complement the England international. Padikkal had a 400-plus run season in his very first year in the IPL. He scored 473 runs in 2020 and was awarded the Emerging Player Of The Season award. He backed it up with a 411-run season in IPL 2021. Courtesy of his consistent performances he also made his T20I debut for India in 2021.
The franchise also has Yashasvi Jaiswal in their ranks but he has not proved himself enough to get a look in ahead of Padikkal. The Mumbai cricketer has scored 289 runs in 13 matches so far for the Royals with just one fifty to his name. It will be interesting to see whether the franchise prefers Padikkal or Jaiswal alongside Buttler.