The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is almost here and the champions of the inaugural IPL season, Rajasthan Royals (RR), are hoping to win the title again after winning the inaugural edition in 2008. A perennial underdog, the Royals have made the playoffs in 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2018, most recently finishing second in 2022. Last season, they finished fifth with 14 points from seven wins and as many defeats, two points shy of a playoff spot.
In IPL 2024, a rejuvenated RR team under the leadership of Sanju Samson will try to win the coveted trophy again after 15 years. Just before the IPL mini-auction in December 2023, RR acquired the signature of Avesh Khan by trading Devdutt Padikkal to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
Meanwhile, their latest signings at the mini-auction include Rovman Powell (INR 74 crore), Shubham Dubey (INR 58 crore), Tom · Tom Kohler-Cadmore (INR 4 million), Abid Mushtaq (INR 2 million) and Nandre Burger, etc. (INR 50 Lakhs).
As per the two-week schedule announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), RR will begin their IPL 2024 season opener against LSG on March 24 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
As RR prepares for another exciting IPL season, let’s take a look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
strength
The explosive starting duo of Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the strongest in the league, with captain Sanju Samson at No. 3 being the icing on the cake.
The aforementioned trio averages over 35 points per game and has amassed 1579 and 1379 runs in the 2022 and 2023 IPL seasons respectively.
It’s safe to say that RR’s top three are also expected to reap fruitful returns this season, with the addition of Rovman Powell further bolstering their already solid batting line-up.
The Rajasthan franchise also boasts a quality spin department. With the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin and Adam Zampa at their disposal, RR’s spin unit could be one of the strongest and most versatile in the 2024 IPL.
weakness
In fact, RR’s batting line-up is a bit top-heavy, which is the target of the rival teams, who are well aware that some early decisive breakthroughs will put Royals at a disadvantage in front of Jaiswal, Samson et al. Butler returned to the dugout.
Add to that the Royals’ inconsistent finishers like Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag, and it’s easy to understand why RR’s batsman will depend on RR’s batsmen in terms of success in the inaugural IPL 2024. Performance.
Another aspect that limits the Royals’ team is their lack of truly quality all-around players. Ravichandran Ashwin and Abid Mushtaq are the only two all-rounders in the team, which won’t help the team if they need to change and experiment with the lineup in the few weeks of the season. balance.
Chance
The upcoming season does offer plenty of opportunities and many players in the RR squad will need to prove their quality. 29-year-old Vidarbha left-hander Shubham Dubey has made a huge impact in the domestic cricket world with his hard-hitting ability. As expected, RR spent Rs 58 crore in the mini-auction to secure his services and he will be keen to repay the faith reposed in him by the Royals.
With Shimron Hetmyer out of form heading into the season and Riyan Parag yet to make an impactful showing in the IPL despite excelling at home, Shubham could be the consistent power-hitting option that RR have been looking for.
Parag has had a few down seasons with Rajasthan and will be keen to break the record considering he is the highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023-24 . The Assam batsman smashed 510 runs in 10 innings at an average of 85 and an impressive strike rate of 182.79.
Samson and Chahal hope that a good season will help them secure a place in the Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June. While Samson has played many T20Is, Chahal last played for India in August 2023, when he scored 20 overs.
threaten
Prasidh Krishna has been ruled out of IPL 2024 due to injury, but RR have plenty of backup in the pace bowling department.
However, it must be noted that RR’s squad for the 2023 season is almost the same as the one that reached the finals in 2022. Unfortunately, their limitations and lack of depth in both departments were exposed last year when they were unable to qualify for the playoffs.
Before the start of the new season, RR’s batting was a bit fragile without adequate substitutes. If one or two of Jaiswal, Samson, Buttler, Hetmyer and Powell get injured or underperform, they don’t have many options.
Possible matches twelve:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma (impact sub)
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