Rajasthan Royals (RR) is a Jaipur-based Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. RR is one of the original eight IPL franchises when IPL began in 2008. At present RR is owned by Manoj Badale along with other investors. Rajasthan Royals’ home ground is Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
The Pink City franchise won the inaugural edition of IPL under the captaincy of Australian legend Shane Warne, who was also the team's mentor. Rajasthan Royals’ IPL journey has been marred by many controversies.
In 2010, BCCI terminated the contract of the franchise but later reversed its decision after reaching a consensus.
However, in 2016, Rajasthan Royals was caught in a spot-fixing scandal. The Lodha committee recommended a two-year ban for the team and the BCCI followed it. RR returned to the tournament in 2018 edition.
Rajasthan Royals went into the playoffs of IPL 2018 season. But failed to make it to the finals as it lost Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Eliminator.
In the 2019 edition of the IPL, Steve Smith returned to the team after serving one-year ban in ball-tampering row. He was appointed as the captain of Royals mid-way in the 2019 season after team's poor show. For IPL 2020, he was appointed as full time captain but after the tournament he was released by the franchise. Sanju Samson was appointed as a skipper of Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2021.