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 Swapnil Asnodkar of Rajasthan Royals. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) 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 Kamran Akmal. (Photo Source: Getty Images) 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. 3. Niraj Patel Niraj Patel of Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: Photo Divison) Niraj Patel played some nervy matches for Rajasthan Royals. That innings against the Mumbai Indians where he hit a 29-ball 40 still has a place among the cameos from that season in our memories. Niraj still plays first-class cricket. He is a part of the Gujarat team and is an integral member of the squad. The 35-year-old has had some good seasons in the Ranji Trophy but has failed to make it to the national squad. 4. Yusuf Pathan Yusuf Pathan celebrates after the wicket of Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan during the Jaipur vs Chennai IPL T20 final. (Photo by Manoj Patil/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Yusuf Pathan was one of the key members of the Rajasthan squad. The hard hitter played some insane knocks to help RR win crucial games including the final. Pathan scored 435 runs at an awe-inspiring strike rate of 179 in 16 matches in IPL 1. Yusuf plays first-class cricket for Baroda and was the member of the 2011 World Cup winning squad. He is with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL know and is a vital cog in the team while still trying to break into the national cricket team. 5. Mohammad Kaif Mohammad Kaif with Sreesanth attends the IPL Awards Night at the Grand. (Photo by Ritam Banerjee-IPL 2010/IPL via Getty Images) Mohammad Kaif was sensational in the field for Rajasthan Royals and did decently with his bat as well. He scored 176 runs for them after playing all the 16 matches in the season. Kaif last played for India in 2006 and currently plays a mentor cum captain role for Chattisgarh cricket team who are making their debut in domestic cricket in the 2016-17 season. 6. Ravindra Jadeja Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo Source: Getty Images) One of the few players whose career took a turn for the good because of IPL was Ravindra Jadeja. He was of immense importance for Rajasthan Royals as he played 14 matches for them. He scored 135 runs for them and was a fielding sensation. Ravindra Jadeja now features for India in all formats. The highlight of the Saurashtra boy’s career has to be his impeccable performance in the Champion’s Trophy in 2013. 7. Shane Watson Team Jaipur bowler Shane Watson celebrates with his teammates the wicket of Delhi’s Gautam Gambhir. (Photo by Santosh Harhare/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Shane Watson was the man of the series of the inaugural IPL season. He scored a massive 472 runs for them in 15 matches and more over took 17 wickets as well. Watson enjoyed a wonderful career with the Australian national team across formats and retired from international cricket last year. He played for Australia for more than a decade and almost won the IPL last year with Royal Challengers Bangalore. 8. Sohail Tanvir Sohail Tanvir RR. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Pakistani pacer, a wrong-footed bowler with an unusual one hand action was the leading wicket taker of the tournament. He had 22 scalps to his name in only 11 matches he played. He won the purple cap for the same. Tanvir last played for Pakistan in 2015 and continues to play first-class cricket. He has been a globetrotter in T20 leagues around the world and is currently enjoying playing in the Pakistan Super League. 9. Siddharth Trivedi Rajasthan Royals bowler Siddharth Trivedi (R) celebrates the wicket of Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman A.B. DeVilliers. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images) The Ahmedabad bowler was one of the important members of the squad. He wasn’t the best of talents in the squad but certainly a utility player. Trivedi mostly bowled in the middle overs and was economic. He took 13 wickets in 15 matches for the Royals. Siddharth made headlines for the wrong reasons in 2013 as he was banned for one year for not reporting about bookies but has made his comeback and continues to play first-class cricket for Saurashtra. 10. Munaf Patel Rajasthan’s Munaf Patel celebrates after their win over Mumbai after the match between Mumbai and Rajasthan. (Photo by Santosh Harhare/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Patel played 15 matches and took 14 wickets for RR in the opening season. He was one of those goto bowlers for Shane Warne as the medium pacer took a wicket every 23 balls at an economy of 7. Munaf last played for India in 2011. He was a part of the Indian squad that won the World Cup at home. He hasn’t been able to shine since then. In IPL 2017 auction he was picked by the Gujarat Lions. 11. Shane Warne (C) Shane Warne (L) of the Royals celebrates with teammate Faiz Fazal after his team’s victory. (Photo by Hamish Blair-IPL 2010/IPL via Getty Images) Shane Warne was the spin head of that squad. He captained the team and also took 19 wickets in 15 matches. He rightfully scored the winning runs in the final. He continued to captain them till 2011 and eventually just coached the team. Warne also played in the Big Bash League till 2013. He enjoyed a brilliant career and now works as a commentator. The most successful leg-spinner has also participated in various reality shows in the last few years. 12. Dinesh Salunkhe Dinesh Salunkhe with Shane Warne. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Salunkhe was another leg-spinner who worked under Warne. He made six appearances for Royals in the tournament but couldn’t do much. He was one of those off-field picks by the RR talent scout, who picked up a lot of talented youngsters from different grounds in India. Salunkhe has never played first-class cricket and all his professional cricket has been restricted to the T20 format. 13. Graeme Smith Shane Watson, Shane Warne and Graeme Smith. (Photo by Kunal Patil/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Former South African skipper and opener Graeme Smith opened the batting for Royals and played some match winning innings for them. He was one of the most experienced players at the time. He is now retired from international cricket and enjoyed a wonderful career playing for South Africa. Smith is the best skipper the national team ever had and the most capped Test captain in the world. 14. Younis Khan Younus Khan. (Photo by Morne de Klerk/Getty Images) Younis Khan just made one appearance in the IPL and got out on 1. He was the part of the squad that won the IPL without making much of a difference on the field. He currently has retired from the shorter format of the games but plays the longer format for Pakistan and is inching towards the 10000 runs mark being only 23 runs away from it. Younis is one of the greatest batsmen to have ever represented Pakistan. 15. Dimitri Mascarenhas Kolkata Knight Rider’s Brandon McCullum and Rajasthan Royal’s Dimitri Mascarenhas. (Photo by Santosh Harhare/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) He was one of the many all-rounders in the squad. The English cricketer was a hard hitter with the bat and always came in handy in crunch situations for Warne and co. He is currently busy coaching Otago the domestic side in New Zealand. He has finished level three of coaching from ECB and has also had a player-coach role for Hampshire. 16. Darren Lehmann Darren Lehmann. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Lehmann despite being Warne’s former Aussie teammate played only two games for Rajasthan Royals. He scored 18 runs in those two matches. He was more of a coach than a player. Lehmann helped with his experience off the field and help improve a lot of players. He is currently working as the head coach of the Australian Cricket team that is on the tour of India. Rajasthan Royals 2008 squad: Shane Warne (C), Shane Watson, Swapni Asnodkar, Siddharth Trivedi, Darren Lehmann, Justin Langer, Sohail Tanvir, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Niraj Shah, Younis Khan, Graeme Smith, Dinesh Salunkhe, Yusuf Pathan, Anup Revandkar, Munaf Patel, Morne Morkel, Pankaj Singh, Parag More, Sumit Khatri, Kamran Akmal, Ravindra Jadeja, Aditya Angle, Taruwar Kohli, Javdev Shah.

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2008 IPL Champions Rajasthan Royals: Where are they now?

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