Key takeaways from Rajasthan Royals' campaign in IPL 2024
It's the end of Rajasthan Royals' campaign in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). They lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 on Friday at Chepauk. Chasing 176, RR put up a disappointing show with the bat as they were restricted to 139/7. Dhruv Jurel's fighting 56* went in vain. Here are the key takeaways from RR's campaign in IPL 2024.
A season of two halves for RR
RR won eight of their first nine games before losing four on the bounce. Their final league match got washed out as RR finished third in the team standings with 17 points (NRR: +0.273). While RR defeated the high-flying Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator, they lost to SRH in Qualifier 2.
Lackluster show from openers
RR openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler were highly inconsistent for RR. As per ESPNcricinfo, they compiled just 268 runs in partnership at 24.36 Jaiswal, who managed to touch the 50-run mark only twice, finished with 435 runs (SR: 155.91). While Buttler scored two tons this year, he didn't score a fifty in his other nine outings. He finished with 359 runs (SR: 140.78).
The Samson-Parag show
Skipper Samson and Riyan Parag powered RR with their consistent run-scoring. While Parag (573 at 52.09) finished as RR's highest run-getter, Samson (531 at 48.27) also enjoyed his most prolific season in terms of runs. Both batters struck at around 150. As per ESPNcricinfo, RR lost the joint-second-least wickets in the middle overs (7-16) this year (37).
Do you know?
Parag's tally of 573 runs is the most for a player batting at four or lower in an IPL season. He went past Rishabh Pant's tally of 547 runs in 2018. Meanwhile, this was also the first occasion of two non-openers from a team scoring over 500 runs in an edition.
RR were let down by lower-order batters
The consistent show from Parag and Samson meant RR's lower-order batters didn't get many opportunities. However, Dhruv Jurel fared decently in the limited opportunities, scoring 195 runs (SR: 138.29). Meanwhile, Shimron Hetmyer (113 at 22.60) and Rovman Powell (103 at 17.16) had under-par seasons. Notably, RR had the second-worst run rate in the final four overs this year (10.83).
Boult's stunning show with the new ball
Trent Boult was simply sensational with the new ball as he took seven wickets in the first over this season. No other bowler has even five wickets in this regard. His brilliance meant RR had the best economy rate in the powerplay this year (8.46). They also took the most wickets in this phase (28). Overall, Boult finished with 16 scalps (ER: 8.30).
Avesh, Sandeep starred in death overs
Avesh Khan finished as RR's leading wicket-taker with 19 scalps (ER: 9.59). 8 of his wickets came in the final four overs (ER: 9.23). Meanwhile, Sandeep Sharma was the only RR bowler with a fifer this year. He overall finished with 13 wickets (ER: 8.18). Their brilliance meant RR had the best economy rate in the final four overs in IPL 2024 (10.25).
Spinners fared decently
Veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal showcased many colors this year as he claimed 18 wickets at an economy of 9.41. Though Ravichandran Ashwin managed just nine wickets, his economy of 8.49 was decent. His defensive bowling was also criticized on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, RR's economy rate of 8.72 in the middle overs was the fourth-best this season.
