The inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royal are in fifth position in the IPL 2021 points table heading into the restart.
Since the beginning of the IPL 21, it was seen that the absence of marquee players including Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer have impacted the franchise and certainly affects their title dreams in a big way.
They are seen to be in a shaky state with the unavailability or withdrawal of these key players. Recently, due to personal reasons, Jos Buttler will also be missing the second leg of the tournament.
The Royals started the season by losing and eventually fighting back and winning the second match of the fixture against Delhi – but losing three out of the first four matches. The confidence-booster came for them when they defeated Kolkata in a six-wicket win.
After that losing to Mumbai Indians and again winning the next match against Sunrisers with a 55-run win before the season was postponed meant that the Royals head into the restart not too sure how their season will end. On a whole managing to win three matches while losing four out of seven, they still have the chance to qualify for the play-offs.
The absence of reinforcement
The marquee stars including allrounder Ben Stokes, big-hitter Jos Buttler, and pacer Jofra Archer are missing the second leg due to various reasons. They have called in reinforcements so that their impact affects their title dreams. But their absence will surely be felt.
Now, let us have a look at the top-performing batsmen for the last 7 matches played by the Royals.
Sanju Samson at the top shows the kind of form he was in at the starting of the tournament, followed by Buttler he had someone who he could rely upon opening, but with his absence, the responsibility needs to be born by both Samson and Dubey. The incredible strike rate that Buttler has maintained throughout the last seven matches needs to be born by someone else for the team to achieve desirable results.
Samson needs a reliable batsman up the order, with whom he can build trust so that he can come and play his natural game.
With Archer out of the entire 2021 due to a shoulder injury and Stokes unavailability, the team bowling responsibility is put across to the experienced Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, and the young Chetan Sakaria.
The three bowlers have appeared in all the first seven matches and are seen to be adhering to the responsibilities quite well.
Chris Morris is seen to be at the peak of his performance during the first phase of the tournament, followed by Mustafizur and Sakariya. Morris has taken responsibility for the ball and has been delivering with an incredible average of 16 and also striking highest with the bowl with a total of 14 wickets in 7 innings that he has appeared.
The bowling department for Rajasthan will not be affected much as the Marquee players were absent since the beginning and Mustafizur and Sakariya can be seen doing pretty well along with the experienced Chris Morris.
The burden on Sanju Samson
The skipper Sanju Samson who is also the man in form and leading with most runs for Rajasthan Royals will be looking to win the remaining seven games to confirm a spot at the playoffs.
It was also seen that teams with 12 points have managed to finish among the top four before. RR have announced their replacements with the likes of the world’s top-ranked T20I bowler Tabraiz Shamsi joining them alongside Evin Lewis, Glenn Phillips, and Oshane Thomas.
With Evin Lewis joining the squad we might see some out-of-the-ordinary performance from the men in Pink. Even Samson will be relieved with the thoughts that might be haunting him due to the absence of the reliable Buttler alongside him.
Tabraiz Shamsi is expected to ease the bowling side for the Royals. His left-arm spin bowling will surely affect and trouble the opponent batsmen considering his recent stats of being the no.1 T20 bowler.
Now, let us have a look at the Rajasthan Royals squad for the second phase of play at the UAE:
Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror, Kartik Tyagi, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahim, Chetan Sakariya, K.C. Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Liam Livingstone, Akash Singh, Glenn Phillips, Glenn Phillips, Tabraiz Shamsi, Oshane Thomas, Evin Lewis.