Rajasthan Royals also makes an important update to squad ahead of IPL 2023 season. The franchise announced that Sri Lankan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka will replace the injured England’s Sam Curran.
Sam Curran is considered to be one of the best all-rounders in contemporary T20 cricket, and his exclusion from the event marks a major shift for the Royals. While the squad seems perfectly balanced, given the injury history of the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube, signing Shanaka for INR 2 crore would only make their batting department better.
Dasun Shanaka is a recognized name in International cricket and plays all formats for Sri Lanka. It is reliable, both in batting and bowling department throughout his career. Shanaka has played a fair amount of international matches and scored over 3350 runs, besides taking 86 wickets across formats.
He is a great allrounder who can add value to T20 teams. All-rounders are important assets to any team in the IPL as they allow teams flexibility when selecting their batting and bowling line-ups.
Shanaka does not enter the IPL environment completely fresh either. He has been part of the Gujarat Titans squad previously, so he already has some experience of playing in the league. This interesting detail may allow him to adapt quickly in the Rajasthan Royals setup and understand the dynamics of the competition.
The addition of Shanaka gives Rajasthan Royals a robust middle-order choice and also provides an additional bowling option. With the long nature of any tournament, especially IPL where a team encounters different conditions and match situations, it is important to have players who can play multiple roles.
Rajasthan Royals fans would be eager to see how the team plans to utilise Shanaka for their strategy in the upcoming season. His experience abroad and leadership abilities may also bring some depth to the squad.
As teams are still working on finalizing their squad and announcing replacements, the hype for IPL 2026 is growing gradually. This has supporters excited for the tournament to find out how these additions impact their teams’ performances.