Can revamped Royals cope with dearth of overseas batters?
Archer is back and Dravid heads a new coaching group, but can RR handle the loss of Buttler and Chahal?
Himanshu Agrawal
16-Mar-2025
Where they finished last year
After starting the season with eight wins in their first nine games, Rajasthan Royals (RR) looked set for a top-two finish. But four successive losses and an abandoned match later, they ended third. RR then beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator, but lost Qualifier 2 to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
What's new in 2025
RR revamped their bowling unit in the mega auction after not retaining or buying back Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and R Ashwin. They went on a bowler shopping spree - Jofra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana cost INR 28.65 crores - and did not buy any overseas batters. Shimron Hetmyer, who was retained, is their only overseas batter. He is a certain starter, but if form or fitness becomes an issue, RR have few back-up options.
It isn't common for a team to have an entirely Indian top five for the majority of the season. It's happened in 37 games in the IPL over the years: MI did it ten times last season and finished bottom; KKR did it seven times in 2015 and finished fifth; the other 20 instances were scattered, not Plan A for the teams. So if RR have Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel as the top five, as it looks like they might, they will be attempting something that hasn't taken teams into the playoffs in the past.
They also signed the 13-year-old batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi at the auction. He is the youngest player to earn an IPL deal and made his debut for Bihar across formats in domestic cricket in 2023-24. Overall, the squad seems to lack depth, and this season could be a test of their domestic bench strength.
RR also have a new coaching team. Former India captain and coach Rahul Dravid is their head coach, and Vikram Rathour their batting coach. They appointed former India legspinner Sairaj Bahutule as their spin-bowling coach.
Likely best XII
1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer*, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga*, 8 Shubham Dubey/Akash Madhwal, 9 Jofra Archer*, 10 Maheesh Theekshana/Fazalhaq Farooqi*, 11 Sandeep Sharma, 12 Tushar Deshpande
* denotes overseas player
* denotes overseas player
Big question
Do Rajasthan Royals have the squad strength to make the playoffs?
6.6K votesYes - their Indian core will carry them through
No - the lack of overseas batters will hurt them
Watch out for
Jofra Archer returns to RR after almost five years, having spent three seasons there from 2018 to 2020, and arrives in the IPL after an injury-free 2024 following chronic elbow and back problems. Archer has played 19 T20Is since his comeback in May, bagging 23 wickets at an average of 24.26. But with his history of injuries, RR will want to manage his workload carefully. RR also have Fazalhaq Farooqi and Kwena Maphaka as overseas pace options, and both are left-armers.
After more than three months out with a shoulder injury, Riyan Parag returned to action when he led Assam against Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy towards the end of January. It took Parag six seasons to finally repay RR's faith in him, and he smashed 573 runs at an average of 52.09 and a strike rate of 149.21 in 2024. That was more runs than Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal or Jos Buttler, and that performance helped him earn T20I and ODI debuts. With Buttler now gone, RR will depend on Parag even more.
Key stats
- Samson enters the IPL on the back of scoring just 51 runs in five T20Is against England in January-February. He had cracked three centuries in five innings before that and was dismissed for ducks in the other two.
- With 12 wickets, Hasaranga was Desert Vipers' second highest wicket-taker in the ILT20 held earlier this year in the UAE. His economy rate of 5.88 was the best among all bowlers to have bowled at least 100 balls in the tournament, with Sunil Narine second at 6.17.
Who's out or in doubt?
While Samson had finger surgery last month, he is awaiting fitness clearance from BCCI medical team. There is no confirmation yet on whether that might impact his availability for RR's first match on March 23. Samson had suffered the blow while batting during the fifth T20I against England in early February, when he was, coincidentally, struck by a ball from Archer, his RR team-mate.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo