Rajasthan Royals (RR) are facing a very crucial season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they will be without the services of Sanju Samson. Riyan Parag will captain the team in place of Samson in the season.
Along with captain Riyan Parag, rising opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal will also be in the headlines as he can play excellent innings in any situation. The future of the team in IPL 2026 will largely depend on the opener. But, if the batsman goes through a bad phase, who will be there to help the team progress in the campaign? The aim of this article is to find out three cricketers apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal who can make a difference for RR.
3 players can lead RR to IPL 2026 glory
Riyan Parag
RR captain Riyan Parag himself is capable of bringing about a change. Rajasthan Royals have high expectations from their homegrown talent. Parag has been with the team since 2019 and knows very well what the team wants from him.
Season after season, the middle-order batsman also improved his batting statistics. Last season, he scored 393 runs in 14 matches at an average of 32.75. When Samson missed several matches due to recurring injuries, Parag was named the team’s stopgap captain.
| tournament | Team | mat | Inn | No | it goes | HS | avenue | BF | sr | 100s | 50’s | 4s | 6s | whistle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | RR | 84 | 72 | 12 | 1566 | 95 | 26.10 | 1104 | 141.84 | 0 | 7 | 111 | 87 | 45 |
Shimron Hetmyer
The West Indies batsman is one of the most famous Twenty20 format batsmen across the world. Shimron Hetmyer can single-handedly change the complexion of a match on any day, under any circumstances. During the T20 World Cup 2026, the left-handed batsman played some explosive innings for the West Indies cricket team.
Against Zimbabwe he played an inning of 85 runs and against Nepal the batsman played an unbeaten inning of 46 runs. Last season with RR, he scored 239 runs in 14 matches with the help of one half-century.
| tournament | Team | mat | Inn | No | it goes | HS | avenue | BF | sr | 100s | 50’s | 4s | 6s | whistle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | RR, RCB, DC | 86 | 79 | 28 | 1482 | 75 | 29.05 | 976 | 151.84 | 0 | 5 | 93 | 93 | 45 |
Vaibhav Suryavanshi
This list would be incomplete without mentioning batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who took IPL 2025 by storm with his exceptionally aggressive batting approach. The 14-year-old talent finished the IPL 2025 season with an amazing strike rate of 206.56. After appearing in 7 matches, the opening batsman scored 252 runs, which included a brilliant inning of 101 runs.
Ahead of IPL 2026, he was in tremendous form for the Under-19 Indian cricket team during the Under-19 World Cup. In the final of the tournament, Vaibhav Suryavanshi won the title by scoring a record-breaking century against England.
It would not be wrong to say that apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi can be the trump card for Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League starting from March 28.
| tournament | Team | mat | Inn | No | it goes | HS | avenue | BF | sr | 100s | 50’s | 4s | 6s | scheduled tribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | RR | 7 | 7 | 0 | 252 | 101 | 36.00 | 122 | 206.55 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 24 | 0 |
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