Can Rahul Dravid’s Rajsthan Royals End their Title Drought?

What’s new with Rajasthan Royals in the new cycle?

Rahul Dravid has returned to coaching duties. And his task yet again is cut out: win the trophy!

He implemented such involving the Indian team the last time he had this sort of responsibility, and it doesn’t get easier for Rajasthan Royals as they try to win the title they last hoisted back in 2008 with Dravid serving as the determined skipper for their former captain. In this latest task, Dravid has with him batting coach Vikram Rathour. For more Sports Update Click Here

Beyond the coaches, the team that made full use of its six available retentions will still see some movement within the squad. In comes Jos Buttler who previously played as an opening batsman and was the third most prolific run scorer in the franchise’s history. The spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, and pacer Trent Boult are also out. Even with all the high-quality, senior bowlers being let go, that is not a part of the Royals that should have the least concern. Not only did they use younger players as replacement, but they also went all out and purchased a great number of Indian pace bowlers in addition to reinstating Jofra Archer.

They have plenty of combinations they can experiment with in the bowling department that would fit the required conditions. However, the old batting problems still persist. Foremost among these are a lack of quality back-ups and uncertain death-hitting options. I’m curious what role their 13-year-old recruit, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, will be given.

Full Squad

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Singh Rathore, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Maheesh Theekshana, Ashok Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka, Yudhvir Singh

The best XII as things stand

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c/wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal/Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi/Maheesh Theekshana

Injury/Availability Concerns

Sanju Samson, who had surgery on his fractured right index finger from the T20 series with England, is thought to have passed his batting fitness test, although he is still waiting for clearance from NCA.

Moreover, Tushar Deshpande has not been active since September 2024 after he had ankle surgery last year, and has now missed the entire domestic season.

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The player with a point to prove is…
Despite his strong performance in the IPL, Nitish Rana’s career has not seen great success from the time that he debuted internationally. Rana has faced considerable challenges this season in domestic cricket, including an unremarkable Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign. Moving out of his home state association made it harder for him to feature in matches for KKR, and he ultimately only played two games during the franchise’s title winning run. Now, he has a lot of work to do if he wishes to get back on track.

A potential breakout player for the season

For Dhruv Jurel, the promise is yet to be executed. He has struggled to deliver consistently match after match and when the team needs it most; a situation that Riyan Parag similarly faced for many seasons. The young wicketkeeper-batsman has not yet achieved the T20 stats that Juerl possesses, but receiving faith from the franchise and being retained for INR 14 Crore is no small thing. The young promising player has much to prove if Royals expect him to close out critical moments of the game. If it all comes together for him this season and he performs really well, things could shift drastically for his T20 career.

Fixture build-up and run-in…

Rajasthan Royals will have the most to travel over the course of their games. Firstly, they will travel to Guwahati, stay there for a few days, then head to Jaipur and stay there for a few days, which means the team is on the move constantly. There is not much downtime and the longest rest period the Royals will get is after the eighth match during the league stage between April 19 to 24.

A home ground stat to watch out for this season

Another piece of trivia about the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, which is one of the Royals’ home grounds this season, is that the toss is somewhat irrelevant, since the last unbiased stat shows that in the last ten games both teams had equal wins regardless of batting order. One thing is certain, it probably isn’t great for fast bowlers, who have had the worst average and strike rate in Jaipur than all the IPL venues for the last two seasons.