IPL 2019: Analyzing Strengths and Weaknesses of Rajasthan Royals

Strong Openers, the highlight as we look at the strengths and weakness(es) of Rajasthan Royals (RR) for IPL 2019.

Rajasthan Royals did well last year by reaching the playoff’s considering they were without their leader, Steve Smith. Their star players, Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat too performed miserably throughout the tournament.

What worked for them were valuable contributions from the other key players such as Sanju Samson, Joss Butler, Jofra Archer, etc.

Coming to the IPL 2019 campaign, Rajasthan Royals did some really good buys from the auction as they added Oshane Thomas, Ashton Turner, Liam Livingstone, Jaydev Unadkat, Varun Aaron, Shashank Singh, Riyan Parag, Shubham Ranjane and Manan Vohra to their squad.

So, let’s try to identify the strengths and weakness(es) of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad for IPL 2019.

STRENGTHS:

Pace Bowling:

Rajasthan Royals have a brilliant pace bowling attack in the form of Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Oshane Thomas, BenStokes and Jaydev Unadkat.

Jofra Archer will once again lead the pace attack along with Jaydev Unadkat, who will have to forget his 2018 performance, and focus on adding more variations to his bowling. If given a chance, Oshane Thomas can be lethal as a bowler.

Openers:

While pace bowling is RR’s strength, their opening department is good too if they get their combination right. Attacking Jos Buttler would be expected to open the innings alongside calm and composed, Ajinkya Rahane or Rahul Tripathi. They also have good backups in the form of Manan Vohra and Prashant Chopra.

 WEAKNESSES:

Spin Bowling:

Ish Sodhi and Shreyas Gopal are good wrist spinners, however, it would be difficult to play Ish Sodhi considering the available overseas combinations. That means Krishnappa Gowtham will have to play the role of a second spinner.

While both, Shreyas Gopal and Krishnappa Gowtham are good spinners, the lack of experience may come to haunt the Rajasthan Royals. Plus, they don’t have good backups too.

All-rounders:

This may not exactly be a weakness, but the form of Ben Stokes would be very crucial for RR to succeed in IPL 2019. If he fails, RR would once again rely very heavily on Krishnappa Gowtham to deliver better than his 2018 performance.

The other backups, Aston Turner and Liam Livingstone are lacking IPL experience, hence, predicting their performance is slightly difficult after D’Arcy debacle. 

CONCLUSION:

Overall, Rajasthan Royals have the squad that can definitely emulate their 2008 performance. Under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane, Rajasthan Royals would be chasing their second IPL title.

Thanks for reading! What is it that you like the most in Rajasthan Royals? Please, let’s know in the comments. 

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ALSO READ: IPL 2019: Strengths and Weaknesses of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

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