Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals had a task on their hand to stage a turnaround after finishing second from last, last year. With head Kumara Sangakkara back at the helm, under whom they had their best season in recent memory in 2022 when they finished runners-up, it’s been quite a swing of fortune. RR grabbed the last qualification place for the playoffs by defeating Mumbai Indians on Sunday.
They couldn’t have done it without their batting sensation, still three summers away from earning his driving licence. For his 583 runs and 53 astonishing sixes, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been head and shoulders above anyone else. So also, their menacing fast bowler from England, Jofra Archer (21 wickets in 14 matches, ER of 8.76).
Other than that, RR have done it their way. With conscientious use of data, they have not been shy of tweaking team combinations for opposition and conditions. Every team does it, yes. But RR can go to the extremes, except that they don’t see it that way.
The Royals have used as many of 20 squad players to make it thus far, the most among the four playoff teams.
“I would love to have no injuries, no drop in form. But it’s important to change your line-up,” Sangakkara said after the win against MI. “For this game, we were weighing up, do we play Adam Milne, Sushant Mishra, Tushar Deshpande, who has played here a lot.
“So you’ve got to weigh up these options and then try and narrow down to what you think is going to be the best to face the opposition. Sometimes the players don’t do well, that doesn’t make them bad players. That doesn’t make them bad decisions.”
Despite starting with Mumbai-based pacer Tushar Deshpande with a fair degree of success, they swiftly changed strategy to bring in Brijesh Sharma. Among spinners too, Ravi Bishnoi wasn’t persisted with despite his wicket-taking hauls. After a few expensive outings from the India international, they saw greater merit in the tall leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja. It could be argued, such a selection strategy could leave players disgruntled, who often seek defined role play over a long season. There are different ways to skin a cat. The RR think-tank has preferred to yield results in the here and now.
The match against MI at the Wankede was also a good example of how they deviated from the standard way of using the Impact Player. After losing 5 wickets inside the 13th over, teams usually call for the additional batter from the bench to try and post a defendable total. Instead, RR promoted Jofra Archer, the pinch-hitter, to take the match deep. Similar to a strategy they have employed in earlier years with Ravichandran Ashwin, asked to bat higher with a licence to swing hard, while carrying a lesser premium on his wicket.
A conventional usage of Impact Player would have forced RR to go with a five-bowler strategy, something they wanted to avoid on the Mumbai surface.
Captaincy choice
RR have been able to utilise the horses for course theory mainly because the captain is fully aligned. Riyan Parag’s choice as captain itself was a leap of faith. They had some other alternatives, more obvious choices than the 24-year-old to replace the outgoing Sanju Samson. Yashavi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel have picked up enough international experience. In Ravindra Jadeja, they had the choice to go with a stop-gap experienced hand to groom a younger contender.
Parag has had the odd flourishing innings, but not the season he would have liked with the bat (272 runs in 12 matches at SR of 153) in his maiden season as regular captain. Some of his off-field misdemeanors have also been a let down. But having looked the part while marshaling his resources, Parag enjoys complete backing of the head coach.
“He is the absolute right guy to lead this franchise. I have no doubt in my mind,” said Sangakkara. “And having watched him, yes, he will grow. He will mature. He will understand himself a lot more. He will learn to understand his players a lot more.
“If you look at the calls he makes as captain, the confidence with which he drives himself, almost on one foot sometimes to come and play, there’s a huge amount of positivity. I think he’s captained exceptionally well. And when he’s in that dressing room, he’s got the respect of all the players and the staff. That’s all you can ask for.”
