RR IPL 2025 Squad Review: Will RR finally do the Halla-Bol on IPL title after 2008?

 The last team we will discuss about in the IPL Team Review is Rajasthan Royals.

Rajasthan Royals has had a roller-coaster IPL journey. They won the inaugral season in 2008 and then qualified for the playoff next time in 2013, missed out on playoffs spot because of loosing to MI in a high-voltage game at Wankhede and then again qualified to Playoffs in 2015 and crashed out of the tournament after loosing against RCB in eliminator. Then they faced a 2-year ban and then made a comeback in 2018. The 2018-21 phase was a dull one as they qualified only 1 time for playoffs and that too narrowly. Then, they changed their strategy after 2021 IPL and adopted an analytical approach towards, team-building, scouting and style-of-play. They were the most consistent team in 2022-24 IPL with their worst performance being a number 5 finish in the 2023 season. Ahead of the 2025 IPL Mega Auction, they retained their batting core of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel along with Sandeep Sharma. They went to the mega auction with the lowest purse of just 41 Cr and completed their squad within the stipulated budget. How does the team look like? Let's find out.

We will do  a phase-wise analysis of batting and bowling of DC 2025 squad members for the last 3 seasons of IPL and find out the strengths and weaknesses of DC.

Squad:

Playing 11:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(c & wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Impact Player: Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal

Batting Lineup

RR have a batting lineup filled with players who play with an attacking and risk-taking mindset. Yashasi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson will open the batting followed by Nitish Rana at No.3. Riyan Parag is the dynamic anchor who will bat at No.4 and around whom the rest of the batters will attack. Dhruv Jurel at 5 and Shimron Hetmyer at 6 will have to take care of the finishing duties. 5 of the 6 batters were retained ahead of the mega auction and Nitish Rana is the new addition in the lineup. How does the RR batting unit look like after the addition of Nitish Rana? Let's find out. We will analyze the phase-wise performance of the RR batting lineup in the last 3 seasons of IPL.

Powerplay(1 - 6)

Scatter Plot for Powerplay Batting Performance

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson are going to be the 2 openers of Rajasthan Royals and they will have the responsibility of giving good start to Rajasthan Royals and also scoring big runs. Both Jaiswal and Sanju are attacking players. Yashasvi Jaiswal is the 3rd highest run-scorer in Powerplay in the last 3 seasons of IPL with 815 runs at a strike rate of 158.87. His strike-rate of 158.87 is the highest among all the players who have scored more than 450 runs in the powerplay in the last 3 IPL seasons. On the other hand, Sanju batted as a No.3 and No.4 batter in the last 3 seasons of IPL and scored 344 runs at a strike-rate of 144.54 in the powerplay, as he will open the innings this time, I expect his Powerplay strike-rate to cross 150. Then, Nitish Rana will come at No.3. The RR top-order will feel a huge void because of Jos Buttler's absence this time. Yashasvi, Sanju and Nitish have a huge responsibility on their shoulders to fill the shoes of an out-an-out match-winner like Jos Buttler.

Middle  Overs(7 - 15)

The responsibilty for scoring runs in the middle-overs lies mainly on Nitish Rana, who is an excellent player of spin and Riyan Parag who was the 3rd run-getter in the 2024 IPL. Let's take a look at the stats of RR batters in the middle-overs:

From the above stats we can say that, RR have a dependable Top-4 who can bat through middle and score at a healthy run-rate in this phase. Samson's runs in the middle order have come as a non-opener, whereas Jaiswal can bat through the middle after getting a good start. Whereas, Rana and Parag at 3 and 4 respectively can carry on the momentum formed by the openers and give Rajasthan Royals a good platform before the carnage in the death. Jurel didn't get much opportunity to bat in the middle overs as he was primarily used as a finisher, but this time as he will bat at No.5, his responsibility as middle order batsman increases and he will have to step up and score runs in the middle overs. As far as Hetmyer is concerned, he is the designated finisher and should be sent to bat to bat after 13 overs only as he has a poor game against spin and he should be shielded from spinners.

Death Overs(16 - 20)

 This is the phase where RR batting is at its destructive best. The above stats show that a well-set Sanju Samson is the nightmare of s bowler as he is at his destructive best in the death overs. Parag and Rana can hit in the death as well. But, the onus of batting in the death overs and giving a good finish to RR lies on the shoulders of Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer. Both of them are excellent finishers and finish the innings on a high and while chasing  can take down the opposition bowling lineup as well. Overall, RR have a great batting unit for death overs.

Overall, RR have an excellent batting lineup but they lack depth as they bat with only 6 specialist batters. Apart from this 6 batters, they don't have a single all-rounder or batter who has decent enough experience of batting at No.7. They also have only 1 overseas batter and i.e. Shimron Hetmyer.

Bowling

RR have a good bowling unit spear-headed by Jofra Archer who made a return to cricket in 2024 after 2.5 years of constant injuries. His pace-bowling partners are Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma and Akash Madhwal who have their own strengths and limitations as bowlers. On the spin bowling front, RR have the Sri Lankan spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana. They have quality bowlers, but how does this bowling looks as a unit. Let's see how this bowling unit looks phase-wise and how these bowlers have performed statistically in the last 3 years.

Powerplay(1 - 6)

Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande are the ideal new-ball bowlers for Rajasthan Royals followed by Sandeep Sharma as the 2st change bowler. Tushar Deshpande is the 10th highest wicket taker among pacers in the last 3 seasons of IPL with13 wickets at an economy of 8.02. Sandeep Sharma is also an excellent new ball bowler but was primarily used as a 1st change bowler in the last 3 seasons of IPL. Jofra provides an excellent combination of swing and bounce which also makes him a choice for bowling with new ball. Akash Madhwal is also expected to get some games especially when RR is bowling 2nd, but he is a very high variance player and will have few good days where he will take bulk wickets but on his bad days, he will get smacked all around the park. There is a choice to also use Maheesh Theekshana in Powerplay who is a very good defensive bowler. Overall, RR have lot of options for new ball bowlers and RR should use these bowlers according to matchups and conditions.

Middle Overs(7 - 15)

The responsibility of bowling in the middle overs lies mainly on the spin-duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana. Hasaranga had an excellent season in 2022 where he was the 2nd highest wicket-taker, but had an underwhelming season in 2023 and missed the 2024 season because of injury. On the other hand, Theekshana was a part of the CSK setup and took 8 wickets at an economy of  7.39 in the middle overs in the last 3 seasons of IPL. These 2 spinners will play a crucial role for RR on the slow Jaipur wicket. RR can also sneak in an over or 2 from Riyan Parag who showed his bowling skills in the white-ball series between India and Sri Lanka in 2024. RR will also try to sneak in an over or 2 of pace bowling by either of Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer or Akash Madhwal. Overall, RR is sorted for miiddle-overs bowling.

Death overs(16 - 20)

This is a phase where there is a concern for RR bowling. The responsibilty of death bowling for RR lies massively on Sandeep Sharma. There is Tushar Deshpande as well who has taken 21 wickets in death overs in the last 3 seasons of IPL but he also concedes too many runs in the death and his economy of 11.67 is a proof of it. Jofra Archer since 2024 has not been a reliable death bowler for England as well. Theekshana can bowl 1 over in the death, according to matchups but not more than that. Overall, we can say that death bowling is among the major concerns for Rajasthan Royals.

Overall, RR have a good bowling unit with good spinners as well as pacers but they lack capable death bowlers. This weakness might haunt Rajasthan Royals in 2025 season.

Strengths:

1. Attacking batting unit: Rajasthan Royals have a very attacking batting unit which put on scores of more than 190 on a consistent basis. This is a very good sign for any T20 team.

2. Great Indian core: RR had retained an excellent Indian core of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhrub Jurel and Sandeep Sharma. They added players like Nitish Rana, Tushar Deshpande and Akash Madhwal in the mix who are some of the most talented Indian players in the league. They have also exciting youngsters like 14-year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi and J&K pace-bowling all-rounder Yudhvir Singh Charak.

3. Suitable bowlers for Jaipur pitch: Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur has traditionally been a slowish pitch and is expected to be the this time as well. RR have a spin duo of Hasaranga and Theekshana who are replacements of Chahal and Ashwin respectively and are expected to come good on the Jaipur pitch. Whereas pacers like Sandeep Sharma and Jofra Archer have already played 2 seasons each for RR in India(Jofra played 2020 season which was in UAE) and have done decently well at Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

Concerns:

1. No batting depth: RR lack batting depth as their batting lineup ends with Shimron Hetmyer at No.6. Shubham Dubey will be used as No.7 in some games but he is not yet proven at the IPL level. Till the 2024 season, RR used R Ashwin as a floater in few games to elongate the batting lineup but this time they lack a good floater as well. RR also don't have an overseas batter apart from Shimron Hetmyer which was not the case till last year as they had Jos Buttler and Rovman Powell.

2. Lack of quality all-rounders: Since the 2022 season, RR has stopped playing genuine all-rounders in playing 11. They play with 6 specialist batters and 5 specialist bowlers which is not the ideal combination. They have Jofra Archer and Wanindu Hasaranga, but they are not like Marco Jansen and Rashid Khan who can hit few big hits in the death overs.

3. Death bowling: RR have a weak death bowling which is heavily reliant on Sandeep Sharma. Death bowling costed them a few close games in the 2023 season which eventually resulted in them loosing out on a playoffs spot. So, RR need to look into this.

Home Ground: Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur

The pitch in Jaipur  has traditionally been on the slower side with help for medium pacers. The pitch is expected to behave in the same manner this year as well.

Combination for Away games:

RR should utilise the bowling potential for Riyan Parag in the right manner as per conditions and matchups. RR have Shubham Dubey who can be used as a finisher with the impact player rule and should be among one of the impact player options. Kumar Kartikeya can also get a game or 2 based on opponent and pitch. On the bowling front, Akash Madhwal will be the 1st choice impact player.

Conclusion: RR have a very capable squad but lacks depth in batting as well as bowling. This lack of depth makes their playoffs qualification chances low.