Can Royals punch above their weight again?

 

 

A lot will depend on Shane Watson again, for Rajasthan Royals

Forever the underdogs, Rajasthan Royals is one team that has always looked like a team since the first season. They have always had big impact players and there is something in the leadership that brings out the best from them. A fairytale first season aside though, they have struggled to find consistency and have been consigned with the reputation of arguably being the best of the second-tier teams. 

Unlike the men from Chandigarh, Pune and Hyderabad, they have never have had disastrous campaigns; the strong leadership may have changed hands from Shane Warne’s flamboyance to Rahul Dravid‘s more methodical, process-driven management style, but it has kept the team cohesive and focused on cricket.

The team this year again comes in with a battery of overseas players who are experienced and effective in Twenty20s. They have men like Brad Hodge, Owais Shah, Shaun Tait and Brad Hogg who have, quite profitably for themselves, carved out a career playing the short format. Throw Shane Watson, Kusal Perera, Kevon Cooper, Fidel Edwards and James Faulkner into the mix, and the team starts appearing as a strong contender. However, with only four of these trumps available at a time, the team management will have to find which card to pull out when.

Their fortunes, though, would depend on how the local group supports the imports. Rahul Dravid led with passion last year, but he hasn’t played cricket since and this season could well be his last. Then there is Sreesanth, who will be eager to make an impact after sitting out during last year’s IPL. However, it won’t be a surprise if both are inconsistent. But one guy who is expected to fire straightaway is Ajinkya Rahane and the team would look forward to the kind of starts he generated last year.

What they have lacked is the stamina to keep up their intensity through the tournament. They have always had decent starts but they tend to lose steam when the race gets tighter towards the end. Take last season for example where they were in the running to qualify for knockout stage with two games to go, but they were tripped by Deccan Chargers, the poorest team in the competition. This year, with most players available from the first match and all games being played in Jaipur, Royals are in a place to give the tournament their best shot.

 

Key players

The man of the tournament in the first edition, Shane Watson is among the few players who have stuck with one franchise and he hasn’t fared badly at all. He has scored 1242 runs from 39 games and taken 35 wickets for Rajasthan and is in the same league as someone like Chris Gayle in dismantling any bowling attack. More importantly, this season he is available for the entire duration of the tournament, although he is likely to miss the first game. It is unclear about why he is unavailable, but it is understood that he will be catching a flight over the next couple of days to join the team ahead of their second game against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 8. He had a tough time during the recent Tests in India and didn’t bowl at all, but he had indicated earlier that he might start bowling during the IPL.He may neither be a hard-hitting batsman nor a tearaway fast bowler, but allrounder Stuart Binny’s role will be an important one among the second string locals in the team. He bowls gentle medium pace with a lot of variations in speed and is coming off a decent showing in domestic cricket, with 622 runs and 27 wickets off 11 matches this season. Royals would hope Binny brings the same value to their team as Rajat Bhatia does to Kolkata Knight Riders.

 

Big name in

Kusal Perera’s recent run of scores (64, 56, 18*, 42, 336, 97, 203) is not the only exciting part about him, it is the manner where he scores the runs that can set this tournament alight. The Sri Lankans have called him the next Sanath Jayasuriya and the similarity is not just limited to the whiplash square-cut. Royals may have spent the most for James Faulkner ($400,000) but Perera, bought for a steal at $20,000, could well be provide the tournament. 

Big name out

The departure of Johan Botha from Jaipur to Delhi has left Royals poorer in the spin department, but Botha’s absence will be felt in the batting as well, as he was versatile enough to come up the order. He played 24 matches for Royals, in which he scored 335 runs and picked up 19 wickets.

Below the radar

It is not all just about his name; Kerala allrounder Sachin Baby recently flogged a 19-ball 48 against Delhi in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy (India’s domestic T20 tournament) to pull off a tough chase. His T20 strike rate is over 150 and he can fill as a offspinner too. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, who impressed Ian Chappell during last year’s Under-19 World Cup, could also be in the spotlight. 

Availability

Royals are well-placed this year with all their players available throughout the season.

Royals have received death-bowling boost – Dravid

 

Rahul Dravid said Rajasthan Royals will think about at the opening options available to them

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid has include  bowlers like Fidel Edwards and James Faulkner in the squad has strengthened their bowling, specially in the death overs, improving Royals’ chances in the IPL this year.

“[Last year] we were hampered by injuries to our main bowlers, Shaun Tait, Kevon Cooper and S Sreesanth,” Dravid said. “Moreover, Shane Watson was not available for most of the matches and that meant that, at times, the responsibility of bowling death overs was shouldered by rather inexperienced bowlers.

“We had to pay the price for that but this time we are better equipped. In the auctions, we went for Fidel Edwards and James Faulkner under our backup plans. Edwards can generate good pace like Tait, and Faulkner has done well in this version of cricket.”

Dravid was also happy with Sreesanth’s fitness. “He has bowled very well in the nets and practice matches,” he said. “He is eager to prove himself.”

While stressing that Watson’s “presence alone was great for the team”, Dravid said that the decision to bowl would rest with the Australian allrounder. “I feel at some point of time he will bowl but he will have to decide himself.” Watson did not bowl during the recent Test series in India because of fitness issues.

Dravid also refrained from stating who would partner Ajinkya Rahane at the top of the innings, saying that the team would think about the options it has.

Dravid happy to have Watson at the start

Shane Watson may open the innings for Rajasthan Royals with Ajinkya Rahane

Rahul Dravid has said Rajasthan Royals will be bolstered by the exists Shane Watson, who is expected to join the team in time for the  exist or beside’s second game against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 8.

“Watson brings a lot of quality to the team,” Dravid told the Times of India. “Last year, we missed him for the first eight or nine games. This time, we are lucky that way. If we can play to our potential, we should be able to do pretty well.” He also added that Watson may be promoted to open the innings with Ajinkya Rahane.

Royals coach Paddy Upton was upbeat about the prospects of the squad in the IPL. “It is essential to work out a fine balance between team and individual performance,” Upton told the Hindu. “Our focus is to play at our level best and deliver top performances throughout the season. We as a team provide space to our players to take their own decisions, judge their performance and together we all help each other to execute these decisions on field. We try to not only improve the sporting skills in our players, but also help and groom their overall personality.”

 

Watson admits batting form a concern

Shane Watson endured a lean series in India by his standards     Shane Watson has conceded that he risks being dropped unless he can  find a way to start scoring big runs again, after yet another disappointing series with the bat. Watson, who was the acting captain in the last Test in Delhi, managed only 99 runs at 16.50 during the Indian tour. This continued a long, unproductive batting stretch, where in the past two years he has made 627 Test runs at 24.11, and has not posted a century.

His lack of runs was even more noticeable during this series because he had chosen not to bowl to stay fit and string together as much cricket as possible after an injury-plagued couple of seasons. Before the series, the captain, Michael Clarke, said that as a specialist batsman, Watson would face competition from a larger pool of players for a place in the team, as compared to when he plays as an all-rounder.

“There is no doubt that I need to score runs,” Watson said at the end of the Indian tour. “As a batsman who’s batting in the top four at the moment, I need to score runs. Unfortunately, during this series I’ve scored nowhere near the [amount of] runs that I’ve wanted to, to be able to give to the team’s performance.

“There’s no doubt cricket’s a performance-based game. If I’m not scoring runs or taking wickets, then you can’t expect to be picked. There are no secrets about it. You can’t hide behind anything, apart from your performance. In this series I’ve not performed anywhere near where I’ve wanted to. I’m looking forward to being able to continue to play and hopefully get some continuity with my game over the next few months, and be in some good touch when the selectors announce the Ashes squad.”

Watson’s case for being part of the XI for the first Ashes Test will be strengthened by the fact that he is expected to be bowling again by then, and his medium-pace has a habit of providing breakthroughs at important times for the Australians. But bowling has also generally been responsible for the many injuries that have prevented him from playing even half the amount of Tests he could have.

He missed all the 2011-12 home summer of Tests due to calf and hamstring problems, and played only half of Australia’s home Tests in 2012-13, again due to a calf injury. However, Watson intends to slowly start building up his bowling workload during the second half of the IPL, and hopes to be in a place to bowl unrestricted during the Ashes, which starts in July.

“One thing I have realised is how much I do miss bowling, and it has been a plan over the last two or three months to get my body to a place where I can get back into bowling again, and hopefully hold together for the cricket we have coming up,” Watson said. “There is no doubt coming here as a specialist batsman has not worked out anywhere near where I wanted it to.

“It didn’t work in that regard, but in the end I am an all-rounder, I love being an all-rounder. At times it has been hard not to bowl knowing what I can give to the game. I know I won’t always be able to score runs or take wickets, but if I’m an all-rounder, I’ve got more [of a] chance to give to the team’s performance and success. I have to stay on top of my body so that I can play the amount of cricket I want to.”