If there is a contest for the most mouthwatering batting line-up at this year’s IPL, Rajasthan Royals will surely be a contender.
Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell... That line-up oozes class, style, experience and power. Not to mention the form Riyan Parag has displayed in domestic cricket.
Needed consistency
When you add one of the most potent spin attacks in the competition, Royals look good enough to make the Playoffs. But they need to be consistent, something they certainly weren’t last year.
After winning four of their first five matches, their campaign went off the track. They could finish only fifth, a year after reaching the summit clash.
That final of 2022 had ended in huge disappointment for RR, which went down to debutant Gujarat Titans.
The only time RR won the IPL it was a debutant too, but as were all the other teams, back in 2008.
The late Shane Warne had inspired that Royals team to a surprise victory in the tournament’s inaugural edition.
The Aussie spin legend was both the captain and coach.
T20 World Cup audition
This edition is important for the current captain Samson on a personal note, too. It is also the audition for the T20 World Cup.
If Samson could stay at the wicket long enough and often enough, not merely his team benefits, his chances of making the Indian team will improve, too.
The Royals team management must be hoping there will be plenty of runs on the board before the skipper reaches in the middle. Jaiswal has been in the form of his life for a year and is threatening to be one of the world’s most feared all-format batters, while Buttler has few peers in white-ball cricket.
In R. Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, RR has a deadly spin duo. If its slow bowling needs to be deadlier, there is Adam Zampa, who took 23 wickets in Australia’s World Cup victory a few months ago in these very conditions.
In Trent Boult, the new arrivals Avesh Khan and Nandre Burger, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma and Kuldeep Sen, the pace-bowling department also looks fine.
