IPL 2018: 3 tactical changes Rajasthan Royals should make to get back to winning ways
A bubble has been burst. A big one, that of a 9-match winning streak. Lead by their skipper Dinesh Karthik, Kolkata Knight Riders have belittled the Rajasthan Royals at a place which they considered their den - the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.
Rajasthan Royals were not only handed a defeat on Wednesday (April 19), they were beaten rather comprehensively. But the crest-fallen men must forget the defeat because this stone-hearted competition called the IPL doesn't give anyone the time to lament.
They will try to make a strong comeback and they can do it by making these three tactical changes.
#3 Having a settled batting order
There have been a lot of discussions about RR's batting order this season. Shane Warne and his compatriots have shuffled their batting order like it is a deck of cards. They are opening the innings with Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short and have two other batters who used to open the innings - Rahul Tripathi and Jos Buttler.
Their most prized asset Ben Stokes, who is known for his ability to finish games, has batted either at number 3 or number 4.
Tripathi, who did wonders for Rising Pune Supergiant last year as an opener, was being used as a finisher at number 5 or 6 until yesterday, when he came in at number 4. The only transparent reason we can find for this unnecessary tweaking is to maintain a left-right combination.
If you examine the scorecards of RR's matches closely, you'll find that whenever the right-hander Ajinkya Rahane has got out, the left-hander Stokes was called upon, while right-hander Sanju Samson was slotted in at number 3 when left-hander D'Arcy Short got out.
What Warne needs to understand is this plan has more chances of failing than of succeeding. He needs to have a concrete batting order, a line-up that does not change much from one match to the next. This would give all the batsmen some measure of stability, allowing them to get comfortable with their designated positions.