Owner: Emerging Media Group, Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra Captain: Shane Warne

Franchise fee: $67 million

2008 Performance:Champions

Most expensive players: Mohammad Kaif - USD $675,000; Tyron Henderson - USD $650,000

Rajasthan Royals who were written off as underdogs last year but scripted a fairytale victory with some good cricketing skills on the field led by an inspirational leader Shane Warne. The team may not have an Icon Player but it manages a roll call of some of the finest talent in cricket.

It is a major blow that the champions will be without all-rounder Shane Watson and left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, two of the main match-winners for the underdogs who spent the least money on players but carried away the $1.2 million prize money.The presence of four top South African performers in Graeme Smith (present Captain of South African team), Tyron Henderson (an experienced T20 specialist), Morne Morkel (bowling all rounder) and Jeremy Snape (South African performance coach), Rajasthan Royals is already seen as the most popular team with the local fan base in South Africa. With no franchisee having a home advantage, this is seen as a fairly positive and encouraging sign for the team in the days to come.

Owned by the Emerging Media Group, the Royals will also field many of India's young guns. The team logo has a lion citing the power of the Royals and the war horn which denotes a war cry. The team will reflect Rajput values of courage and valour.

Full squad:

International players: Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Rob Quiney, Lee Carseldine, Shane Harwood and Shaun Tait (Australia), Graeme Smith, Tyron Henderson and Morne Morkel (South Africa) and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Indian players: Md. Kaif, Munaf Patel, Dinesh Salunke, Swapnil Asnodkar, Niraj Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahesh Rawat, Siddarth Trivedi, Anup Revandkar, Naman Ojha, Siddarth Chitinis, Paras Dogra, Amit Singh, Ahed Malik, Kamran Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Ashraf Makda, Raphi Vincent Gomez, Paul Valthaty, Srideep Mangela, Md. Arif, Gajendra Singh, Atul Sharma, Pratmesh Salunke, Pushkaraj Chavan