Rajasthan Royals returned to the IPL fold again after serving a suspension of two years and were determined to prove that they haven’t missed a step in those two years.
The rebuilding process started with the IPL 2018 auction, where they retained Steve Smith and after a while, also named him captain of the side. Other major former RR players who were brought back into the fold were Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Dhawal Kulkarni and Stuart Binny.
RR also shed their image of a miser spender in the auctions and spent INR 12.5 crore on acquiring the services of Ben Stokes and INR 11 crores on buying Jaydev Unadkat. RR team management suffered a setback when Steve Smith was banned from IPL in 2018 for his involvement in ball tampering scandal in South Africa and the captaincy was given to Ajinkya Rahane.
They had a mixed bag tournament up until some sane mind decided enough was enough and set the batting order correct. The faith in D’Arcy Short coming good was finished and Jos Buttler was made to open, a decision which took them to the playoffs, as he rattled off runs in a consistent manner.
However, the bowling department let RR down woefully as each of Unadkat wickets in tournament cost his team INR 1 crore each and Dhawal Kulkarni was out of form for the whole season. Jofra Archer was a worthy investment and along with K Gowtham and S Gopal, they salvaged some pride of RR bowling.
Team COC looks at the performance of the RR team and presents the player ratings for IPL 2018
(All stats updated till May 25, 2018)
JOS BUTTLER- 9/10
Jos Buttler was having a lukewarm season until some sane head in the team management decided that the duo of Ajinkya Rahane and D’Arcy Short at the top wasn’t working and promoted Buttler to open the innings and he slammed 5 consecutive fifties including two scores of 90 plus.
In end, Buttler scored 548 runs in 13 innings with a strike rate of 155.24 with the best score of 95* and at an average of 54.80. Buttler was wonderful as an opener for RR and he was helpful in putting the team in a position from where they could make it into the playoffs.
SANJU SAMSON- 6/10
Sanju Samson was on fire initially in the tournament and that was evident from his brilliant 92* against RCB. He scored a total of 441 runs in 15 innings, including 3 fifties with a strike rate of 137.81. It was Samson’s drop in form that caused RR to become dependent on Buttler and Stokes.
He scored a good fifty against KKR in the eliminator, but couldn’t go on to finish the match for his team. Samson has tremendous charisma and talent and may definitely be one of the players who might be retained by his franchise for next year’s IPL edition.
AJINKYA RAHANE- 5/10
Ajinkya Rahane got the responsibility of captaining the RR team after Steve Smith was banned by the IPL team management. He scored 370 runs with the best of 65* and strike rate of 118.21. However, it was his own strike rate that was the downfall of his team because despite remaining not out on many occasions, his slowness of innings caused the lower order to crumble under pressure.
RAHUL TRIPATHI- 5/10
Rahul Tripathi, who was a hit with the Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2017 as an opener, was made to play the role of a finisher. He came into his own during the later stages of the tournament, when he was given the role of the opener. Tripathi scored 226 runs in 12 innings with a best of 80* and a strike rate of 135.32.
MAHIPAL LOMROR- 2/10
Rajasthan’s local talent, Mahipal Lomror got 2 innings to play, in which he made 20 runs down the order and bowled 3 overs for 27 runs.
HEINRICH KLAASEN- 4/10
Heinrich Klaasen was bought with much fanfare by the Rajasthan Royals as a replacement player. He got to play 4 matches, scoring 57 runs with a best of 32. He had to spend much time on the bench because of the presence of Jos Buttler.
SHREYAS GOPAL- 7/10
Shreyas Gopal was amazing with the ball against RCB in a must-win game for both sides. He picked up 4/16. In total, he picked 11 wickets in 11 matches with an economy of 7.61. He didn’t have much impact with the ball until the fag end of the tournament and left a mark in just a handful of performances.
D’ARCY SHORT- 1/10
D’Arcy Short was bought by the RR team in the IPL auction amidst much hullabaloo from his performances in the BBL which preceded the IPL, where he was one of the highest run-getters and scored the highest score in the league. However, spinners and Indian pitches turned out to be his kryptonite.
In 7 matches, he scored 115 runs with a best of 44 with a strike rate of 116.16 and his below-par performance was criticized by one and all, despite backing from mentor Shane Warne.
BEN STOKES- 2/10
The most expensive player of IPL 2018 auction, Ben Stokes was bought by RR for INR 12.5 crores and he scored a meager 196 runs in 13 innings and picked 8 wickets in the tournament. Each of his runs cost his franchise USD 10,000 each and 6 of his wickets came in the final two matches he played. Stokes looked like a shadow of his former self, which won the MVP award of IPL 2017.
KRISHNAPPA GOWTHAM- 8/10
Krishnappa Gowtham turned out to be the surprise package of this tournament for RR. Picked for a multimillion bid in the auction, Gowtham excelled both with the ball and the bat. He bowled in the power plays, picking 11 wickets in 15 matches and scored 126 runs with a best of 33* with a strike rate of 196.87. He came down the order and won a couple of games for his team thanks to his big hitting.
JAYDEV UNADKAT- 1/10
Jaydev Unadkat had a very good IPL in 2017, which saw a renaissance for the Saurashtra fast bowler. In IPL 2018 though, he was bought for Rs. 11 crores and picked 11 wickets in 15 matches for a crore a piece. He also gave runs at an economy of 9.65 and was unable to replicate the success of the previous season.
STUART BINNY- 0.5/10
Stuart Binny was bought by the RR team management as an afterthought in the auction. He played 7 matches and scored 44 runs and picked no wicket.
PRASHANT CHOPRA- 1/10
Prashant Chopra from Himachal Pradesh got his IPL debut, playing one match and scoring 8 runs.
DHAWAL KULKARNI- 2/10
Dhawal Kulkarni was supposed to be the lynchpin of this RR attack for IPL 2018. However, he looked out of form and bowled disappointingly, picking just 4 wickets in 8 matches at an economy of 9.47. RR team management will hope of a better performance next edition from him if he is retained or bought again by the team.
JOFRA ARCHER- 8/10
Jofra Archer managed to justify his price tag and the hype around him. He was very good with the ball and bowled the fastest ball of the tournament at 152 kmph. Archer picked 15 wickets in 10 matches and was effective both in the power plays and in the death overs.
BEN LAUGHLIN- 5/10
The experienced Aussie Ben Laughlin was bought by the RR team management for INR 50 lakhs. He bowled well for his 9 wickets in 7 matches at an economy of 10.12. He took time to get used to bowling on the Indian pitches and was effective in later parts of the tournament for his team.
ISH SODHI- 5/10
Ish Sodhi had gone unsold in the IPL 2017 auction, but finally realized his goal of playing IPL, as RR bought him in replacement for Zahir Khan Pakteen of Afghanistan. Sodhi picked 5 wickets in 6 matches with a best of 1/14.
ANUREET SINGH- 1/10
An experienced domestic and IPL player, Anureet Singh played 3 IPL games to pick up 1 wicket.
ANKIT SHARMA- 0.5/10
Ankit Sharma played one game, bowling one over and giving away 11 runs.
