Rajasthan Royals:
SWOT Analysis:
| Strengths | Weaknesses | ||
| Foreign options galore – RR have a strong foreign contingent at their disposal. The top order is boosted by Steve Smith and Jos Buttler who was the 6th highest run getter in the last season. Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes are formidable all-rounders and Oshane Thomas is a good fastbowling option for them. They also have the services of Ish Sodhi who is currently ranked 8th in the ICC T20I bowler’s rankings.
Jos Buttler: Currently Buttler is Rajasthan’s best player last season his 5 consecutive 50s after being promoted to open led Rajasthan to the play-offs.
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Inexperienced spinners – RR do not have a big-name spinner and will once again rely on the inexperienced duo of Gopal and Gowtham who are yet to play 50 T20 matches each, while their foreign contingency means Sodhi is not expected to get too many chances.
Over dependency on foreign players – In the last season itself it was seen that players like Buttler and Archer were single-handedly winning matches for the team. This season, there are few domestic match-winners in the team. It is now time for players like Rahane, Samson, Unadkat and K Gowtham to step up their game and win matches for the team. Rahane especially was very sluggish and one of the slowest openers, his strike rate in the powerplay was one of the worsts in IPL 2018. |
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| Opportunities | Threats | ||
| Krishnappa Gowtham – showed promise with the bat and ball in the last season for RR. He has a batting strike rate of 168.99 in all T20s which is the 2nd best (min. 250 balls faced).
Ashton Turner – Ashton Turner will have another chance to wow Indian audiences (after his exploits at Mohali vs India).
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Indian fast bowling – Unadkat struggled last year and had an economy of 9.65, their other recognised Indians quick namely D. Kulkarni and Binny also conceded at an economy of over 9, they have brought in Varun Aaron, but he also does not have a good T20 record.
World Cup 2019 – Availability of Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Ish Sodhi (and perhaps Ashton Turner & Oshane Thomas) for the entire season is under threat as they are the obvious ones to play for their nation in the World Cup. |
