Rajasthan Royals won the first edition of the IPL, only to follow that with four ordinary seasons. Then, on either side of their ban, in 2016 and 2017, they made it to the playoffs thrice in four attempts and finished fifth in the other. Yet, just when things seemed to look up for them, they plummeted, finishing in the bottom two in three consecutive editions.
Of course, there is more to Rajasthan Royals than that. Often hailed as the Moneyball Team of the IPL, the Royals were probably the first franchise of the tournament to figure out that Twenty20 specialists need not be big names in other formats.
Thus, on came Shane Warne, retired from international cricket; Ravindra Jadeja, a bowling all-rounder, only to be used as a batter; Shane Watson, rejected by Australia; free-hitting Swapnil Asnodkar of Goa; teenage Kamran Khan and quadragenarian Pravin Tambe, men from vastly different backgrounds with no experience in domestic cricket; and so on.
They stayed with Rajasthan Royals, some for a season, some for longer. Some of them, like Jadeja, Watson, and Yusuf Pathan, even helped other teams to win trophies as well. But most of them were, given their playing years, backed by Rajasthan Royals when others did not.
Over the past few seasons, Rajasthan Royals had a three-prong strategy. They boasted of high-profile overseas stars, like Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Mustafizur Rahman, David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Evin Lewis.
They focused on the two ‘genres’ of bowling that typically yield results in T20 cricket – wrist spinners and left-arm seamers.
They had several cricketers who could fill in with both bat and ball – Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Riyan Parag, and Shivam Dube, along with the heavyweights like Stokes and Morris.
These strategies, while reasonable on paper, had their limitations. While focusing on big overseas names, they did not pick a single Indian cricketer who had played even ten times for India in any format before the 2021 edition. They did not have a single specialist finger-spinner. And in an attempt to include ‘neither here nor there’ cricketers in the XI, they often compromised on specialist batters and bowlers.
Between 2019 and 2021, Rajasthan Royals had three ordinary seasons. They even finished last in 2020. Then, in 2022, they came to the mega-auctions with a renewed strategy. They addressed most of these problems, creating new ones in the process.
They picked leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Both are experienced, Indian, and among the finest in the country, thereby checking multiple boxes. The tearaway Prasidh Krishna is Indian as well, which will allow Rajasthan Royals to pick both Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile. The last two, formerly of Mumbai Indians, will reunite with Lasith Malinga, now the Royals’ fast-bowling coach.
Rajasthan Royals’ bowling attack looks formidable on paper. Their batting, not quite. Apart from Coulter-Nile (and, by a stretch in T20 cricket, Ashwin), none of them is a feared hitter. A mid-innings collapse may force Rajasthan to delay their slog until very late.
That is not their only problem.
This time, Rajasthan Royals had retained Samson, Buttler, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. All three have done well for them in the past, and are set to bat in the top three, followed by Shimron Hetmyer. Between them, they form a dangerous quartet. On a good day, Rajasthan should be able to hit the 200-run mark.
The problem begins after that. If Rajasthan Royals pick all four of Buttler, Hetmyer, Coulter-Nile, and Boult, they will have to pick Indian batters at five and six. Devdutt Padikkal was an asset for Royal Challengers Bangalore, but his IPL strike rate stands at only 125. Even if he plays, he will probably have to bat after the Powerplay overs, something he is not used to.
That leaves them with Karun Nair, a middle-order batter with an IPL strike rate of 128; Riyan Parag, 119 but with some bowling credentials; and the inexperienced all-rounders, Anunay Singh and Shubham Garhwal. To sum up, things do not look promising after the top four, particularly with Coulter-Nile and Ashwin at seven and eight.
To combat this, Padikkal may bat at three and Hetmyer may drop to five. But that will lead to axing Parag, the only batter who can chip in with the ball.
Perhaps the best solution is to leave out both Coulter-Nile and Parag, paving the way for Navdeep Saini along with one of Jimmy Neesham and the batting all-rounder, Daryl Mitchell. That will allow Rajasthan Royals to have six bowlers as well as six batters. The tail does look long, but it is probably the best possible combination they can field.
Rajasthan Royals do boast of an explosive top order as well as a strong bowling attack. Unfortunately, their team balance may be affected by the lack of a quality all-rounder.
Likely starting XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler (wk), Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Karun Nair, Jimmy Neesham, R. Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketNews and co-author of Sachin and Azhar at Cape Town.
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