5 batsmen Rajasthan Royals need to consider for next year's IPL
The Rajasthan Royals will be very disappointed with the way their season ended this year. They managed to sneak into the top four and qualify for the playoffs but last night's performance would have them feeling very worried.
The men in blue looked to be in control of the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders from the beginning. The top order was blown away by some superb bowling with the duo of Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell being the only two batsmen to provide any sort of resistance.
Their run chase got off to a great start and it looked as though the Royals had the match won. This would prove not to be the case as the Royals would then end up wasting deliveries and struggling to score in the final overs. In the end, the Royals lost the match by 25 runs and this is something which would be very worrying for them.
Losing Steven Smith was always going to leave a bit of a gap in the middle order. Heinrich Klaasen was selected as a replacement but failed to really impress many people at this year's tournament. He does have some ability and has demonstrated that he can hit the ball a long way, but the Royals will want to address the rest of the middle order before next year's IPL season gets started.
There were a lot of batsmen who were left out during this year's auction. Five of these batsmen should be considered by the men in blue for next year's IPL and this article will take a look at these key players.
#1 Hashim Amla
In perhaps what was one of the biggest surprises at this year's IPL auction, Hashim Amla went unsold.
Having been brought in as a replacement for the injured Shaun Marsh last time around, Amla announced his arrival at the Kings XI Punjab with two massive centuries, two half-centuries, amassing 420 runs in just 10 matches and an impressive strike-rate of 141.76 to put an end to any doubters out there who believed that Amla could only play Test and ODI cricket.
His calming influence at the crease also helps other players bat around him and play their natural game - something which the Rajasthan Royals need in their batting order.