The last edition of the IPL is one that no Rajasthan fan wants to remember, not because they came last but because of the fashion in which they did. Rajasthan Royals had a stellar start to the season by winning the first two games handsomely, but as soon as they shifted from Sharjah to the other venues, the Royal Blues suffered which exposed how much they were lacking in their bowling department.
No bowler except Jofra Archer was able to find the rhythm. The domestic bowlers failed to provide any sort of consistent support to him, which lead to constant leakage of runs from one end. Courtesy of poor bowling, Rajasthan failed to win games from positions one would expect them to win.
Rajasthan Royals were one of the winners in this year’s IPL auction. They filled the gaps by purchasing good fast bowlers and also adding few big names to the all-rounder department.
Chris Morris was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for a whopping amount of Rs 16.25crores, making him the most expensive buy in the history of the competition. The South African all-rounder provides Rajasthan with not only good death bowling but he is more than capable of hitting balls out of the park effortlessly. To add to the bowling attack, Rajasthan also booked the services of the Bangladesh bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman.
Over the years it has been observed that to win the IPL, having world-class foreign players is not enough because you can only play four overseas players, so it is important for the teams to have a strong Indian core. With the addition of Shivam Dube, Rajasthan Royals now seem to have the perfect balance of quality Indian players. He is equally efficient with bat and bowl, which gives Rajasthan Royals more options.
With the likes of Jos Butler, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Sanju Samson, Rahul Tewatia, and Shivam Dube in their ranks, Rajasthan Royals have the firepower with the bat. The bowling unit has been bolstered with Morris, but the return of Jofra Archer in the second half of the season could further strengthen them. With the quality additions with bat and ball, RR should not be considered underdogs, but one of the strong contenders to go all the way in IPL 2021.