The explosive left-handed South African batter Rilee Rossouw was bought by Delhi Capitals last year for Rs 4.60 Crore. He had a reasonable IPL tournament with 209 runs from 9 matches (9 innings) with best score of 82 not out.
Rilee Rossouw did not play all the matches. After a few good matches, Rossouw struggled with his batting led Delhi Capitals to not qualify for the playoff stage. Before the IPL 2024 auction, he set the base price of Rs 2 Crore, and it will be interesting to see which of the 10 franchises would buy him in the auction.
Here we look at the 3 Teams That Can Sign Rilee Rossouw for IPL 2024
- Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders had a disappointing outing in the Indian Premier League 2023. They finished 7th in the points table winning only 6 matches. KKR’s main issue last year was the top three batters not able to score consistently.
Jason Roy had a decent tournament with 285 runs from 8 matches including 2 half-centuries and the best score of 61 while the other openers looked ordinary. Rahmanullah Gurbaz played 11 matches scoring 227 runs with 2 half-centuries including the best score of 81 at an average of 20.64. Narayan Jagadeesan failed to contribute too much in the six matches he played.
KKR has a strong middle order comprising Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, and Rinku Singh, Rilee Rossouw could be tried at the top three slot. Venkatesh Iyer and Jason Roy along with Rossouw will make a solid batting unit in IPL 2024.
He was part of the Knight Riders team in the first edition of the Major Cricket League tournament played in the USA this year.
- Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings had another disappointing season in IPL 2023. They finished 8th in the points table with 6 wins and 8 losses. They looked out of sorts during last season with major chopping and changing to find an ideal number 3 batter. Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Matthew Short were the two overseas players who swapped positions.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa was given only 4 matches and scored a total of 71 runs with his best score of 50. They also tried Atharva Taide at the number 3 spot. He showed glimpses with 2 half-centuries in seven matches he played. PBKS could try Rilee Rossouw at number 3 for the upcoming IPL edition.
PBKS retained Shikhar Dhawan along with Jonny Bairstow and Matthew Short as possible opening pairs. With Prabhsimran scoring a century in IPL 2023, he should open with Dhawan. Rilee Rossouw could be an ideal option at number 3 to set an ideal platform for the middle order that can destroy the opponents on any day.
- Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals failed to deliver the goods as they could not qualify for the semi-finals in IPL 2023. Sanju Samson and Co was one of the favourites to win last year’s title but was not able to do it.
RR began the season winning four of the first five games and slipped down losing six out of the nine next matches to miss the playoff stage. Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson failed to contribute many runs which led to RR’s downfall.
Devdutt Paddikal has been traded to Lucknow Supergiants for Avesh Khan to strengthen their bowling attack while Joe Root opted out of the tournament.
Rilee Rossouw could be the best bet for RR at number 3 with the opening pair of Buttler and Jaiswal along with Sanju Samson. The middle order comprising of Samson at number 4, Hetymer at 5, and Dhruv Jurel or Riyan Parag at number 6 would help Rajasthan Royals a lot in posting or chasing down the targets easily.
Rilee Rossouw would be an ideal option for Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming season to make sure that they reach the playoff stage again.
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