IPL titles: 1
Rajasthan Royals started the IPL in style as the Shane Warne-led side stunned everyone to lift the championship in 2008. Since then, however, they have remained the perennial underdogs, failing to repeat their maiden success. They have been very inconsistent and made to the playoffs only thrice in the next 11 years. In between, they were suspended for two years following the spot-fixing sage.
RR had ended as runners-up in the Champions League Twenty20 in 2013.
Here’s how they have fared year on year
How did they fare the previous season: It has been the same story year on year and 2021 wasn’t any different. After finishing last (8th) in the 2020 season, RR followed up with a seventh place finish. They won just five and lost nine matches. Well, in fact in the previous year, where they finished last, they had won more matches – 6. Yes, injuries and player withdrawals hurt them but more than that, it was their batting that let them down as in crunch matches, they were bundled out for 90 (against MI) and 85 (against KKR).
Win Percentage: Prior to the 2021 season, Rajasthan were among five teams that had won more matches than they had lost. However, the numbers have turned now. They have now won 84 of their 175 matches and lost 86 with two ending in No Result. Out of the three Super Overs they have been a part of, they have won two and lost one. They have a win percentage of 49.42.
Highest Run-getter: Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane has been RR’s highest-run getter so far with 2810 runs from 93 innings at 34.26. He has a strike rate of 122.65 and has scored two hundreds and 17 fifties. Rahane donned the RR cap from 2011 to 2019. In 2020, he wore the Delhi Capitals jersey and was retained in 2021 as well. In the 2022 IPL auction, he was bought by KKR for his base price of 1 crore.
Among the current RR players, captain Sanju Samson is the highest run-getter with 2391 runs from 89 innings at 29.88. He has a strike rate of 136.31 for RR and has scored two hundreds and 12 fifties.
Highest wicket-taker: Siddharth Trivedi
It may come as a surprise but medium pacer Siddharth Trivedi, who last played for the franchise in 2013 before being suspended for one year for not reporting approaches by a bookie during the IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013, is the highest wicket-taker for RR. He scalped 65 wickets from 75 innings at 29.29. He had one four-wicket haul, an economy rate of 7.58, and a strike rate of 23.1.
Among the current crop, batting all-rounder Riyan Parag has the most wickets – 3 from 15 innings at 73.66. His economy rate is 9.96 and strike rate is 44.3.
Highest individual score: Jos Buttler 124 off 64 balls vs Sunrisers Hyderabad in Delhi in 2021
This was Jos Buttler at his best as he plundered 8 sixes and 11 fours in a whirlwind knock of 124 off 64 balls after being put into bat first by SRH. He set the platform opening the batting and then added 150 rins off just 82 balls with captain Sanju Samson as RR posted a mammoth 220/3 from 20 overs. It was Buttler’s maiden T20 century. He started off a bit slowly, scoring 50 off 39 balls but then went berserk and smashed 74 off the next 25 balls to blow away SRH.
In reply, SRH could manage only 165/8 as RR cruised to a 55-run win. Buttler was deservedly named the Player of the Match for his match-winning innings.
Highest team score: 226/6 vs KXIP in Sharjah in 2020
Bonus Point: RR hold the record for the highest run chase in the league. They chased down 224 against Kings XI Punjab in Sharjah in 2020, winning by four wickets with three balls to spare. They bettered their own record set earlier where they chased down 215 against Deccan Chargers in the 2008 edition at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Favourite opponent: Punjab Kings (Formerly Kings XI Punjab)
Rajasthan have their best win percentage against KXIP (Now Punjab Kings) – 58.69 (For teams against whom RR has played 10 or more matches) with 13 wins from 23 matches and nine losses with one match lost in Super Over.
Bogey team: CSK have had a wood over Rajasthan Royals. RR have lost 15 of the 25 matches played against them and won 10 and have the worst loss percentage 60 percent (For teams against whom RR has played 10 or more matches)
When they played in the UAE:
Rajasthan Royals had a roller-coaster ride in the UAE in 2014. They started off with a win but then lost their way with two losses and then again got back on track to end the leg on a positive note with two consecutive wins making it three wins and two losses from five. They didn’t end up qualifying for playoffs in that campaign, ending fifth.
When they returned in 2020, they had an even worse time, finishing last in the group with just six wins from 14 matches.
In the second leg of the 2021 season, their poor form in the UAE continued as they won just two of the seven matches and lost five.
.Lesser known facts:
- Rajasthan Royals have never made it to the final after the inaugural edition where they won the tournament.
- RR have had the most hat-trick takers in the league: 4 – Ajit Chandila, Pravin Tambe, Shane Watson and Shreyas Gopal.
- Royals were a part of the first-ever tied match in IPL history, against KKR at Cape Town in 2009. They won the match in the one-over eliminator.
- Ajinkya Rahane has scored 1100 runs at an average of 39.29 in IPL at Sawai Mansingh Stadium – the most by any RR batsman at any venue in IPL
Retentions, purchases and squad
IPL 2022 players retained: Sanju Samson (India batter-wk) Rs 14 crore, Jos Buttler (Eng batter-wk) Rs 10 crore, Yashasvi Jaiswal (India allrounder) Rs 4 crore
IPL 2022 auctions players purchased
Prasidh Krishna (India pacer) Rs 10 crore
Devdutt Padikkal (India batter) Rs 7.75 crore
Ravichandran Ashwin (India allrounder) Rs 5 crore
Yuzvendra Chahal (India spinner) Rs 6.50 crore
Shimron Hetmyer (WI batter) Rs 8.50 crore
Trent Boult (NZ pacer) Rs 8 crore
Riyan Parag (India allrounder) Rs 3.80 crore
KC Cariappa (India spinner) Rs 30 lakh
Tejas Baroka (India spinner) Rs 20 lakh
Anunay Singh (India allrounder) Rs 20 lakh
Kuldeep Sen (India pacer) Rs 20 lakh
Dhruv Jurel (India batter-wk) Rs 20 lakh
Kuldip Yadav (India pacer) Rs 20 lakh
Shubham Garhwal (India allrounder) Rs 20 lakh
Nathan Coulter-Nile (Australia pacer) Rs 2 crore
Rassie van der Dussen (SA batter) Rs 1 crore
James Neesham (NZ allrounder) Rs 1.50 crore
Daryl Mitchell (NZ allrounder) Rs 75 lakh
Karun Nair (India batter) Rs 1.40 crore
Navdeep Saini (India pacer) Rs 2.60 crore
Obed McCoy (WI pacer) Rs 75 lakh
Full squad:
Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh
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