2008 IPL Champions Rajasthan Royals: Where are they now?

The latest edition of the Indian Premier League is just around the corner as all the teams are preparing themselves for the same. But the inaugural season of the IPL was almost a decade ago; doesn’t seem that long, does it? Rajasthan Royals won the first edition of this league led by the great Shane Warne.

The Royals were the underdogs in the tournament with one of the youngest squads. They still managed to outrun everyone to be crowned champions. They defeated Virender Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils in the semis and MS Dhoni’ Chennai Super Kings in the final.

The final was the last ball thriller as the Royals edged past CSK who were the favorites under the leadership of Dhoni. The victorious RR squad was showered with such love that they would never forget. The players were suddenly heroes. Some of the players of the squad made it big while some have faded away in the oblivion.

Let’s find out the whereabouts of each player that featured for Rajasthan Royals back in 2008.

1. Swapnil Asnodkar

This little nuke from Goa took the tournament by storm as he smashed world class bowlers to the fence with ease. He scored an impressive 311 runs in 9 matches at a strike rate of 133.

Now, 32 years old, Swapnil still plays first-class cricket for Goa and has even captained them in recent pass. Though the Goa lad has never been impressive enough to be called upon by the selectors but has still left us with some beautiful memories from that IPL season.

2. Kamran Akmal

A familiar name from Pakistan kept wickets for Rajasthan Royals as he also scored some valuable runs for them. He played 6 matches scoring 128 runs at a swashbuckling strike rate of 164.10.

Akmal last played an international game for Pakistan in 2014 and is still struggling to get back into form and the national team. He still plays domestic cricket but has little chance of making a return as age is not his side this time. The 35-year-old just concluded the Pakistan Super League season where he represents the Peshawar Zalmi.