IPL 2020: 3 players who can replace Ajinkya Rahane in the Rajasthan Royals Playing XI

Ajinkya Rahane, India’s Test vice-captain, and former Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper has been traded to Delhi Capitals ahead of the much-awaited auction. Rahane will now join Ravichandran Ashwin, who was recently traded from Kings XI Punjab to Delhi Capitals.

With the 2020 IPL trading window closed, all the eight franchises have been busy finding the best possible deals apart from preparing the list of players to be retained as well released.

Rahane, who has a price tag of INR 4 crore led Rajasthan Royals to a play-off finish at 2018 IPL as the franchise returned to the league after a two-year hiatus. However, after the first eight games of 2019 IPL, Rahane was replaced by Steve Smith as the Royals’ skipper owing to poor results under the Indian batsman’s leadership.

Rahane, who has spent seven seasons at Rajasthan Royals, will now be ending his association with the 2008 IPL winners. Let us now look at three players from the current Rajasthan Royals squad who can replace Ajinkya Rahane in the playing XI

1. Rahul Tripathi

Rahul Tripathi rose to the limelight after his exploits with the bat for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant franchise during 2017 IPL. The Maharashtra-born batsman who amassed 391 runs at a strike-rate of 146.44 in that season was an integral part of the Pune franchise which finished as runners-up behind Mumbai Indians.

This earned him a lucrative contract at the 2018 IPL auction where he was bought for a whopping INR 3.40 crore by Rajasthan Royals. The 28-year-old who finished the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy campaign as Maharashtra’s highest run-getter with 504 runs also led his side to a runner-up finish at 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Unfortunately, Tripathi who was in and out of the Rajasthan Royals XI last season couldn’t replicate his performance with the bat for the 2008 champion in the last two editions of the IPL (226 and 141 runs in 2018 and 2019 IPL respectively). Nevertheless, all that the Ranchi-born player needs now is his team’s backing and opportunity to prove his caliber once again.

With former skipper Rahane set to join Delhi Capitals, the immensely talented Tripathi who has 1342 T20 runs under his belt could open the innings for Steven Smith’s men alongside the dangerous Jos Buttler in IPL 2020.