Sunil Gavaskar subtly names his least favourite team to clinch IPL 2021 title; here is why

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has named defending champions Mumbai Indians as the top contenders to win the upcoming Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) season. The legendary batsman recently attended the ML Jaisimha Foundation in Hyderabad. While speaking with reporters, the cricketer-turned-commentator praised Mumbai Indians and also spoke about the Rajasthan Royals franchise to some extent.

Sunil Gavaskar talks about Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals’ IPL 2021 fate

Sunil Gavaskar is of the opinion that defending champions Mumbai Indians will be “hard to beat” this year. He praised several of their stars, including Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Krunal Pandya who recently shone in India’s home series win over England. While he praised the Mumbai Indians youngsters for their remarkable international debuts against the visiting English side, Gavaskar lamented Rajasthan Royals and their lack of national-bound Indian stars.

Sunil Gavaskar said, “there is no Rajasthan Royals player in the Indian team”. He added that he is not sure “what kind of performance” they will put up this year, making them the least favourites to win in his book.

Sanju Samson IPL 2021 captain of Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson is set to lead Rajasthan Royals this season, after they parted ways with Steve Smith earlier this year. He will join the team camp this year, where Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara will serve as their Director of Cricket Operations. Quite recently, Samson said that he is excited to work alongside Sangakkara. The dazzling cricketer further said that he is looking to learn a “lot of things” from the veteran in the season.

Rajasthan Royals team 2021 details

On January 20, the Rajasthan Royals franchise retained 17 of their stars from the previous edition of the league. The following month, they further enhanced their squad with new additions in the form of Chris Morris, Liam Livingstone and uncapped Indian cricketers like Kuldip Yadav and Akash Singh. Here is a list of all Rajasthan Royals players slated to participate in the upcoming IPL 2021 season.

Sanju Samson IPL 2021 captain of Rajasthan Royals, a look at entire team

Sanju Samson (c), Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Robin Uthappa, Jaydev Unadkat, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, Kartik Tyagi, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Liam Livingstone, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Singh and K. C. Carriapa.

Rajasthan Royals team 2021 schedule

Image source: PTI