No twinkling stars, no corporate jargons, no iconic players and no Bollywood celebrities. This was the case with Rajasthan Royals in the last Indian Premier League and thus was the least impressive team in the fray. And the analysts forecasted Rajasthan Royals in deep mess after a humiliating nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Delhi Daredevils in the very first match.
The game, however, changed dramatically thereafter. Surprisingly, by the end of the tournament, Rajasthan Royals, the then underdogs, had won the maximum number of matches and had the highest net run rate also which was as higher as 0.632, with runner-up Chennai Super Kings at -0.192.When Lakshmipathi Balaji was hit for a single run by Sohail Tanvir in his last delivery of the innings on 1 June, when the final of IPL held, Rajasthan Royals became the first champions of IPL, arguably the most spectacular and promising event launched in the recent years.
The Rajasthan Royals could build up an impressive 11-3 record after their fourteen preliminary round matches in the last IPL. They had a consecutive 6-game winning streak .Even promising was that they remained unbeatable on their home ground. They were also the first team to book a place in the semifinals with their 65 run win over the Royal Challengers, Bangalore. The captaincy and coaching of Shane Warne was really mentionable in their win and was well received by the teammates and the management. In addition, the names of players like Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan became synonymous to twenty- twenty form of cricket.
Rajasthan Royals were the least active IPL team during the players auction. The team didn’t go behind any celebrity players. However the franchise got penalized by the IPL committee for failing to meet the minimum bidding criteria of $3.3 million last year. But they unarguably proved that the team spirit and the right combination of budding players can win a game or even a tournament. In this year’s auction, they have followed the same technique as they have brought Tyron Henderson of south Africa and Shaun Tait of Australia to their squad, and with Shilpa Shetty having some stakes they are all set to fly above the expectations.
Now all the eyes are directed towards the Royals. Sportsmen with a sportsman spirit and businessmen with a business spirit! Following the victory in the last IPL, Rajasthan Royals achieved nearly three times business than they expected. According to Manoj Badale, chairman and co-owner, Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd, the company that owns Rajasthan Royals, they have enough profits with their first year of operation and  aims for more in the coming editions of the tournament.
“Cricket is full of uncertainties. They were just lucky last year,” says a member of management of a rival IPL team. But beyond luck, the team spirit they exhibited and the consistence performances for some of the players have overshadowed the uncertainties of cricket for sure. Let’s wait and see.