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Rajasthan Royals were one of the two teams that returned to the tournament after serving a two-year suspension following its alleged involvement in corruption in the league.
After delivering an average performance in the first half of the league stage, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side peaked at the right time and won four out of their last five games to qualify for the playoffs.
While the likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Krishnappa Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer have played a massive role in taking RR to playoffs, there have been a few top cricketers who failed to pull their weight.
Here are three players Rajasthan Royals might drop from their playing XI next season:
#1 Stuart Binny
Stuart Binny, the son of former India cricketer Roger Binny, started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2010. Despite being on the scene for nine long years, the 33-year-old couldn't quite make a mark for himself with his inconsistent performances.
This year Binny was roped in by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of 50 lakhs. However, like every year, Binny has been ordinary this season as well. The Karnataka all-rounder played five matches this season and has scored just 44 runs at an average of 8.80. In fact, his below-par strike rate of 112.82 with his 17-ball-22 against CSK was his best play this season. He has also failed to get his name to rank in the bowling charts by going wicketless.
Given his poor returns, Binny in all likelihood may not be given another chance by RR in their playing XI.
#2 Anureet Singh
The 30-year-old fast bowler has been a part of quite a few IPL franchises like Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. This season, the Railways bowler was roped in by Rajasthan Royals for his base price of 30 lakhs.
Anureet had a decent season in IPL 2015 representing Kings XI Punjab as he picked up 15 wickets in 14 games.
However, this season Anureet failed to make an impact in the three chances he got as he just picked up a solitary wicket going with 10 runs per over.
Given his poor numbers and the good form of other bowlers this season, the Delhi born bowler may not get a chance in the playing XI of Rajasthan Royals next season.
#1 D'Arcy Short
The left-hand top-order batsman from Australia came into IPL 2018 on the back of a stellar Big Bash season. He scored 578 runs for Hobart Hurricanes to win the Man of the Tournament award this season.
Expecting the similar kind of performance from Short, Rajasthan Royals paid a whopping Rs.4.0 Crore to rope him in. However, the swashbuckling opener failed to live up to his reputation as he just scored 115 runs in seven innings at a below-par average of 16.43 and a mediocre strike rate of 116.16 with his 25-ball-44 against Delhi Daredevils being his best.
The Aussie youngster failed miserably to make a mark for himself despite taking numerous chances. Thus it is unlikely that Short gets chances next season.
