There was hope, There was hype. And then, there was heartbreak. The Rajasthan Royals, a team that once lit up the early years of the IPL, entered the 2025 season with quiet confidence and mix of youth and experienced players. They dominated last some years of IPL but this season after Mega Auction their team fell apart. Out of 12 games they played this season they just won 3 matches and lost 9 matches out of which, some matches were really close.
The Captain of Rajasthan Royals Sanju Samson missed matches due to injuries, it disrupted teams dynamics and leadership. The captaincy was handed to Riyan Parag young player of RR. The team struggled to find a consistent winning combination, which ultimately crushed their playoff hopes.
The batting lineup is collapsing, once considered a strength. While young talents like yashaswi jaiswal showed flashes of brilliance, the overall performances lacked consistency. Their middle order is not doing well even their finishers. A very young player Vaibhav Suryavanshi who is 14-year old, entered the team in the place of Sanju Samson and made a very remarkable century against Gujarat Titans. His innings of 101 runs off 38 balls showcased his immense potential and it provided glimpse of RR’s future prospect.
RR’s bowling attack is facing challenges. The team is heavily depended on Jofra Archer, who made a comeback after conceding 76 runs in four over in very first game of IPL 2025 season of RR. After that Archer performed really well, he has almost taken wickets in every match for RR. The spin department, which is led by maheesh theekshana, Wandindu Hasaranga lacked depth and failed to provide the necessary breakthrough in crucial moments. Sandeep sharma got injured one of the finest bowler of RR. Overall the bowling attack is not very strong.
Their were many question raised on RR management for releasing one the main batsman, Jos Buttler who carried RR’s batting line up on his shoulder, the one Man Show. Not retaining Trent Boult, Yuzi Chahal they were strength to RR’s bowling attack. The decision made, fans shocked of releasing Jos buttler. Was the decision choosing Hetmyer over Jos right? So far it’s not, this year the RR’s finishers are struggling they are bottling the win’s. They are losing matches which are in their hands. Getting so close to the game and losing from just 1 run.
Many matches this year, which RR lost are actually very close matches, the RR vs DC match where RR only needed 7 runs off 6 balls it went for super over and DC won that match. Same happened in the RR vs LSG match in last over they needed 7 runs but Avesh khan defended and LSG won by just 2 runs. Yesterday’s match RR vs KKR they lost by 1 runs.
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Yashaswi jaiswal is consistently performing for RR and giving a good start to the game. Riyan played beautiful knock yesterday but the main problem is occuring is from finishers side, Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer. We all have seen them finishing for RR earlier but this season hasn’t been good for them. This year RR got eliminated from IPL 2025 season.
They really have to work on making comeback next season. Also the absence of the captain Sanju Samson due to injury had a significant impact on teams moral and leadership.
The Mega Auction could have been better, RR mostly went for Bowlers than batsman, they could have got overseas experienced batsman, allrounders which they needed. If we look at the batting line up it has more Indian batters than overseas batters there’s only one overseas which is Heymyer. This can be improved in next years mini auction.
As RR reflects on a disappointing season, there are lesson to be learned and areas for improvement. They need to work on building a strong middle order, investing into experienced overseas players, and building a powerful bowling attack. The emergence of young talents like Vaibhav Suryavanshi offers hope but there’s a lot RR needs to work on building a strong team.
Written by – Kinjal Naresh
