IPL 2023: 5 Players Rajasthan Royals might release ahead of upcoming mini-auction

3. Rassie van der Dussen

Rassie van der Dussen has been a run bank for South Africa in limited-overs cricket. In T20Is, the ace batter has played 41 games and aggregated 1044 runs at a strike rate of 128.72. The veteran cricketer was picked by Rajasthan at this year’s mega auction to bolster their batting.

However, the 33-year-old did not get consistent opportunities and had to warm the bench for the majority of the season. And in the three games Rassie played in the 2022 season, he failed to set the stage ablaze with his performances.  He was asked to bat at seven on one occasion which did not help his case either and the Pretoria-born ended up with 22 runs in his three outings at a strike rate of 91.67.

RR had a jam-packed middle order with the likes of Sanju Samson, Devdutt Padikkal, and Shimron Hetmyer in the mix. The trio did a phenomenal job for the team and this meant the Proteas batter had to sit out.  It does not appear Rassie has been able to fit into the scheme of things as the franchise had anticipated. Therefore, RR could part ways with the veteran batter and look for better options in the forthcoming auction.