Rajasthan Royals have made massive overhauls for IPL 2026, including a new captain. The inaugural winners, who are in search of their second title, have roped in Riyan Parag as their new skipper after Sanju Samson’s exit.
Notably, RR failed to qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2025. Sanju Samson left the side for CSK in a trade deal, which allowed the return of Ravindra Jadeja to the Pink City. The Royals have a strong 25-member squad that is ready to go and make a mark in the upcoming season.
Amid the presence of star figures and big names, certain players are set to be left out of the playing XI and might even spend the entire season on the bench. Therefore, this article will shed light on 3 Rajasthan Royals’ players who might spend the entire season as benchwarmers.
Rajasthan Royals' Squad For IPL 2026
Firstly, let's look at the 25-member squad for IPL 2026.
Wicketkeepers
Batters
All-Rounders
Bowlers
Dhruv Jurel
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Ravindra Jadeja
Nandre Burger
Lhuan-dre Pretorius
Vaibhav Suryavanshi
Dasun Shanaka
Sandeep Sharma
Shimron Hetmyer
Donovan Ferreira
Jofra Archer
Shubham Dubey
Riyan Parag
Tushar Deshpande
Ravi Singh
Kwena Maphaka
Aman Rao
Yudhvir Singh
Sushant Mishra
Ravi Bishnoi
Yash Raj Punja
Vignesh Puthur
Brijesh Sharma
3 Rajasthan Royals Players Who Might Warm Bench In IPL 2026
1. Lhuan-Dre Pretorius
The first unfortunate name that wouldn't get to play for RR 2026 is Lhuan dre Pretorius. The 19-year-old was roped in by Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025 as a replacement. He failed to get game time but the Royals retained the southpaw for another season.
The past year has been brilliant for Pretorius as he made his international debut for South Africa. The southpaw is a promising talent but is unlikely to get game time because of strong opening pair.
Talking about his performance in T20Is in 2025, the southpaw scored 157 runs in 12 innings.
Rajasthan Royals will go ahead with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi as the two openers, who are tough to replace. Therefore, Pretorius might have to spend the rest of the season on the bench.
2. Kwena Maphaka
For Rajasthan, they might be forced to use three overseas stars in the batting order - Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, and Dasun Shanaka. Therefore, the Royals only have a solitary overseas slot available among the bowlers.
Shedding light on Maphaka's performance in 2025 in T20Is, the speedster took 12 wickets in eight innings, putting on a brilliant show with the ball.
Therefore, they have Jofra Archer in the team, making it difficult for rest of the overseas bowlers to have a place in the playing XI for IPL 2026. Shedding light on Maphaka's performances
3. Adam Milne
Similar to Kwena Maphaka, Adam Milne is also unlikely to get a chance to play for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026. Talking about Adam Milne, he last featured in SA20 2025-26 where he played for Sunrisers Eastern Cape and picked up 11 wickets in 8 innings.
Milne has done well in the league cricket and also for New Zealand, but due to IPL rules allowing just four overseas cricketers, the right-arm seamer is unlikely to get a place in RR's playing XI.
Unlike Maphaka and Pretorius, Adam Milne didn't had a great T20I year as he just took four wickets in three innings in 2025.
Rajasthan Royals - (Source: AFP)
.jpg?type=mq "Bumrah at CoE")
