How RR made it to IPL 2024 playoffs: Rewinding the highs and lows
Eight games into the season, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) were sitting pretty at the top of the points table, with seven wins in eight matches, while the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), were languishing in 10th, with only one win in as many matches.
Cut to Sunday night in Guwahati, the unrelenting downpour condemned the Royals to a third-place finish in the group stage, setting up an Eliminator clash between themselves and RCB.
While Faf du Plessis' side's achievement is a remarkable triumph, also interesting is this slump from Sanju Samson's side which has not won a single game in the last three weeks.
Let's unpack the eventful group stage for the inaugural IPL champions.
#1 Sanju Samson Makes a Perfect Start
Sanju Samson loves the IPL. He doesn't even try to hide how eager he is to bat in the world's premier T20 tournament that he won the POTM award in all four of RR's opening matches of the season from IPL 2020.
He ensured he made it five as the Rajasthan Royals got off to a winning start, dispatching the Lucknow Super Giants in style. A day game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium isn't what most batters want to begin their season with, and after they lost both openers within the powerplay, Samson and a rejuvenated Riyan Parag joined forces.
With the game precariously poised, the duo took the attack to the LSG bowlers, with Krunal Pandya the only bowler to come out of the innings unscathed. While Parag couldn't get to his half-century, the skipper stood tall with an unbeaten 52-ball 82 to take the Royals to 193/4.
Their bowlers were too good in the second innings for the LSG batters, and despite Nicholas Pooran's best efforts, they hardly got any momentum in the run-chase, with the Royals coasting to a comfortable 20-run win.
Once again, their captain was a class apart with the bat, and this time, it looked like his form would last throughout the season.
#2 The Riyan Parag Redemption
There haven't been too many players who have received the amount of hate and criticism that Assam captain Riyan Parag has, since he made his IPL debut way back in 2019. The flamboyant and confident batting all-rounder received the unconditional backing of his team, but before IPL 2024, he hadn't repaid the faith.
However, a tremendous domestic season and a move to No. 4 followed, paving the way for an outstanding season. After ably supporting Samson in RR's opener, it was Parag's time in the spotlight when they took on the Delhi Capitals at home, with Kuldeep and Axar operating in fine flow.
With their top three back in the hut and the team struggling at 36/3 in the eighth over, Parag took it upon himself to power his team to a winning total. He built his innings to near perfection, cashing in at the death, but not allowing any pressure to build on the Royals, finishing unbeaten on a 45-ball 84, eventually winning the POTM award.
That form has carried throughout the season as he is the Royals' highest run-scorer with 531 runs at a stellar strike rate of 152.59.
#3 The First Defeat
After Samson and Parag provided RR with the perfect start to the season, their bowlers helped them trounce MI before a gritty ton from Jos Buttler saw them comfortably beat RCB.
With four wins in four games, the Royals were quietly backing themselves to extend their perfect record as they took on the Gujarat Titans, and for most of the match, it seemed they would. Samson and Parag were in full flow, and their exploits with the bat yet again masked another sub-par outing for Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Set a target of 197, GT skipper Shubman Gill kept them in the game, but post his dismissal in the 16th over, with more than 60 runs required to win, it seemed like that was that for the Titans.
However, like he has done countless times, Rahul Tewatia refused to give up and played a crucial cameo to open RR's death bowling wounds before Rashid Khan came in to take the full toll of the same. Rashid helped them chase down 15 off the last over, handing the Royals their first defeat of the season, and also prompting them to bring into the fold arguably their best bowler of the season.
#4 The Openers Strike Back as Sandeep Sharma creates an instant impact
RR shrugged off the heartbreak of the GT defeat quite easily to edge past rivals Punjab Kings in a low-scoring thriller, with Shimron Hetmyer making batting look easy on an otherwise tricky Mullanpur surface. Despite that, all eyes were on the under-performing Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal, with Buttler's hundred the only performance of notice from the duo across the first six matches.
However, when it mattered the most, Buttler bided his time, rode his luck, and timed his assault to perfection, masterminding RR's record-breaking run-chase against KKR that cemented their place at the top of the points table.
After Sunil Narine's hundred left the RR bowlers without ideas and their batters with a mountain of a total to chase (224), their ace English batter stepped up. They lost Samson and Jaiswal early, but once again, Riyan Parag made his presence felt with a stellar 14-ball 34.
However, post his dismissal, Buttler waged a lone battle against the versatile KKR bowling attack as wickets kept falling at the other end. With 96 needed in the last six overs, ably supported by Rovman Powell, Buttler shook off the cobwebs and rust to score his second hundred of the season to seal a record-breaking RR win.
In the very next match, another opener made his presence felt, but not before Sandeep Sharma announced his comeback to the team. With Nandre Burger injured and Kuldeep Sen injured, Sandeep was brought back into the fold, and he delivered in his first game back, picking up a five-wicket haul to break the back of MI's batting lineup, striking both with the new ball and at the death.
Tilak Verma and Nehal Wadhera's partnership meant that RR was left chasing 180, and this time, Yashasvi Jaiswal put his hand up. The southpaw treated the MI bowlers with disdain, stroking his way to a 60-ball 104, leaving RR fans ecstatic as they registered their seventh win in eight matches.
#5 SRH shook the foundations of RR's near-perfect campaign
Sanju Samson's Royals were on a roll as the skipper led his side to another victory against LSG in the game following Sandeep Sharma's 5-fer, and with eight wins in nine, they seemed unstoppable.
They did little to sully that image as they somewhat restricted the SRH batting lineup even when they batted first, something not many teams can claim to have achieved this season. Abhishek Sharma departed early and Travis Head was kept in a stranglehold for most of his stay, and it took a special innings from Nitish Reddy to take SRH to 201/3.
Vintage Bhuvneshwar Kumar made an appearance to rattle the Royals early, dismissing Buttler and Samson for ducks, but Jaiswal and Riyan Parag remained unfazed, stitching together a 134-run partnership, basically batting SRH out of the match.
Just when they thought everything was under control, Pat Cummins inspired SRH to make a nearly magical comeback. Rovman Powell was on strike in the final ball of the match with the Royals needing two to win, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar's low full toss snuck through his leg-side swipe, handing RR a crushing victory that had far heavier repercussions than it seemed it would.
The date was May 2, 2024.
#6 A Dry Spell in May
Very often do you see a team go winless in an entire month and qualify for the playoffs comfortably, but that's exactly what the Royals did in the month of May.
Their almost seamless first nine matches of the season saw them register eight wins in nine matches, with the last of them coming on April 27 against the Lucknow Super Giants. However, post the defeat to SRH, their season unraveled.
Ravichandran Ashwin's torrid season finally seemed to turn as he finished with 3/24 amidst carnage from the DC batters, but his spell and Sanju Samson's splendid half-century were little consolation as RR lost that match by 20 runs.
Two more defeats were quick to follow, and in both games, RR was put into bat as their opponents (CSK and PBKS) restricted their batting lineups like no other team had done before this season.
Devoid of any form or momentum in addition to losing Jos Buttler for the rest of the season (international duty), the Royals arrived in Guwahati for their final home game against KKR thirsty for a win and fighting for a place in the top two.
Ironically, the relentless rain did little to quench their thirst as the captains shook hands despite a brief mirage of hope, and the washout meant that RR finished 3rd on the points table behind SRH, going five games without a win, and entering the playoffs without a safety net.
All is definitely not lost for Sanju Samson and Co. who remain a force to reckon with. However, against an upbeat RCB whose form almost completely mirrors RR's, they'll need to show tremendous strength to break this dry spell.