It has been 16 seasons since Rajasthan Royals won an IPL trophy. Shane Warne was the catalyst behind the first win in the inaugural edition. Thereafter, for one reason or another, Rajasthan was never really a title contender. Occasional brilliance was tapered by a lot of below-par performances. They never had star players apart from those initial years with Warne and later Dravid. It certainly looks like all these years, the franchise placed a lot of emphasis on the saying that the sum of parts is greater than the whole. In other words, there is no point in having a couple of stars and paying an enormous sum if they are not going to win the tournament. They started brightly but the wheels came off of RR in the end.
Rajasthan were cruising in the first half of the tournament. 8 wins in 9 games was incredible. A top 2 finish was very much in the cards. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the wheels came off. 4 successive losses followed by an abandoned game stopped them right in their tracks. How was that a team who were dominant earlier on, has now become minnows? They were the exact opposite of RCB. RCB lost 8 of 9 but stormed back to win 6 games on the trot thereby securing a place in the playoffs. That 1 run loss that left Sanju Samson speechless affected the confidence of Rajasthan greatly.
The rut started from there and it went into a tailspin. Fortunately, they ran into RCB who themselves were shocked how on earth did they qualify? Any other team, CSK or even Mumbai, it is difficult to see whether Rajasthan would have gone past the first hurdle in the playoffs.
Serious loss
The unavailability of Jos Buttler towards the later part of the tournament affected them greatly. Let us face it. Buttler is the most prized wicket of Rajasthan Royals. Get him out, the confidence goes right out of the window. A half-fit Jos Buttler limping his way to a century in extremely hot and humid conditions of Kolkata and guiding his team to victory in a record run-chase at Eden Gardens. It was a moment that will be framed in the hall of fame within the Rajasthan dressing room. Scoring hundreds in the IPL has become so easy for Buttler that he can do that in his dream.
It is impossible to replace such a batsman which Rajasthan clearly felt in the playoffs. Buttler was recalled by the ECB to prepare for the T20 series against Pakistan. Rajasthan must have known that there was a series planned for England against Pakistan around that time and that Buttler would not be available. They must have had a contingency plan. However, it now emerges that the ECB gave an assurance to all the franchises that the English players will be available for the entire tournament. If that is true, it was highly unprofessional on the part of the ECB to withdraw their players, especially from those teams who have qualified for the playoffs, abruptly.
It remains to be seen whether the franchises will again plump in money for English players because they will be under the impression that those players can be withdrawn anytime. Anyhow, that is for the ECB to decide but if they intervene like this, considering the money that the players receive in franchise cricket, the day is not far off when the players will bid goodbye to their national teams. Afterall, the career of any sportsperson is too short.
Riyan Parag and Chahal
RCB made a huge blunder when they released Chahal. Sure, he went for runs but he did pick up wickets regularly. There were reports that Chahal asked for more money and the franchise didn’t agree and so he left but Chahal says that that is not true. He also mentioned that the fact RCB did not deem it fit to retain him, hurt him. However, RCB’s loss is RR’s gain.
Chahal has been the star for Rajasthan for 3 years. He bagged 27, 21 and 18 wickets at economy rates of 7.75, 8.05 & 9.41. Impressive figures considering the fact that the latest edition was a run-fest. Scores in excess of 200 were scored with impunity. If any bowler manages an economy of less than 10 against such relentless onslaught, all of them have done well. Chahal has done that for 3 straight seasons shows what RCB missed or it could be that RCB didn’t allow the real Chahal to blossom.
Riyan Parag is another revelation for the season. 573 runs at 149 at number 4 was great. With Jaiswal not at his usual self, it was left to the trio of Butter, Samson and Parag to score. Parag provided the cushion in the middle overs which laid the foundation for several of their wins. He was equally adept against pace and spin, and ran energetically between wickets in testing conditions.
Wrapping up wheels came off of RR
Rajasthan has become the ever bridesmaid. They are unable to take the next step towards success. Having said that, they will not be able to release some of the players. Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Trent Boult and Jaiswal. All of them have been the solid for the franchise. A special mention about Boult. It was his spell in the first eliminator against RCB that put the skids on the RCB batsmen. Neither Kohli nor Faf were able to score anything of him. In trying to bat freely against the others, RCB lost wickets frequently which led to their eventual downfall. However, Boult was unable to recreate his magic in the 2nd eliminator.
There is a similarity between RR, RCB, Punjab and Delhi. The latter three have never won the IPL even once, whereas RR has never won after the first edition. The wait remains for Rajasthan Royals.
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