IPL 6: Rajasthan Royals' recipe for success

Rajasthan Royals, with their non-violence coated sublime brand of cricket, have comprehensively sealed a spot in the final four. Their next target, to maintain a top two finish in league stage, looks in hand given the current state of affairs. Not many gave the Royals much of a chance before IPL began. The common expectation from them was to dazzle occasionally but never to threaten seriously, as was the case with them last year. However, with yesterday’s emphatic win over Chennai Super Kings, the Royals have completed a perfect show and are as strong contenders for the crown as any other team in this IPL.

Mumbai Indians boast of an unparalleled bowling line-up that is second to none. RCB has a supreme talisman in Gayle who looks nothing short of a Bollywood hero when on song. CSK is the most settled, consistent and resilient team in IPL and has at least 7-8 players who are all match-winners on their days. RR has got none of the aforementioned resources, at least not in the same magnitude as the teams above. Yet, towards the business end, the Royals find themselves at the apex in the points table.

Rajasthan Royals’ is probably a story which romantics would love to go over again and again. They have never had the best of the resources and still, somehow, a fine team has been forged out of whatever they have had.

As a pattern, Royals have never invested heavily in high priced players. The only star players to have played for RR have been Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Graeme Smith, Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir. Right from season 1, the management of RR has gone for players who in their eyes, could fit in a team and make a difference. Often, domestic records have been studied and players meticulously selected. Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan and now Sanju Samson and Stuart Binny are all products of such erudite explorations. Although the Royals have always been reluctant spenders, they seem to have worked out a method wherein their chances aren’t hurt much by the lack of spending.

The most pivotal part of RR’s strategy is the selection of captain. When every other franchise was going for Indian captains, RR went for Warnie! Like a good manager is needed when resources are lean and targets huge, a good captain is needed to morph a not so good looking team into serious contenders. RR, as their luck would have it, have had the luxury of two.

Ian Chappell once described Warne as “the best captain Australia never had”.  After four seasons of leading RR, Warne added weight to each of those words. Laced with a streak of rebelliousness and a penchant to challenge the conventional, Warne gave domestic rookies enough confidence to take on international heavyweights. In spite of the obvious language barrier with some players, Warne won them over. He dubbed Ravindra Jadeja “the rockstar”, Swapnil Asnodkar “the Goa cannon”, Yusuf Pathan “blaster” and gave nicknames to many others to make them feel they belonged. Of course, he succeeded.

The next captain RR had was an exact reverse of Warne in nature but strangely, he too had the same integrating effect. Rahul Dravid – on paper – might look a total misfit for a reckless format like T20. However, the way he has batted in this IPL, he might well merit a place in an international T20 squad.

I might have miffed some readers when I didn’t include Dravid in the list of star players pointed above. The truth however is that not many were keen on buying Dravid in the auctions before IPL 4. RR got him for $500,000 which isn’t too high considering the IPL standards (Ah! another of those intelligent penny saving move). In the first season, Dravid had found himself all at sea both as a player and as captain of RCB. The stint was also marred by a lot of brouhaha. Sheer survival in the next two seasons with RCB had become an issue.

It is, however, not without a reason that Dravid is held in high regard in cricket circles. Dravid the captain as well as Dravid the batsman have been pleasant revelations in this IPL. The new Dravid has shown a remarkably fresh tendency of throwing caution to the winds in both roles.

As batsman, he has a certain unseen freedom about him. It is pleasing to the eye to see classic strokes which Dravid has provided a wonderful exhibition of (minus the ugly hoicks and heaves) in this IPL. As captain too, Rahul suddenly has given himself to more and more changes. Whether it be opening in one match and coming at 8 in another, or sending young Sanju Samson in demanding situations or constantly rotating the players to keep them fresh, or simply motivating Watson to perform at his best, Dravid has been at one of his most flexible this IPL.

Watson was always the decisive player in the RR set-up and it was important that he performed. As he showed yesterday in his MoM performance against CSK, when in his elements, there are few game transformers in business like him.

With the win against CSK, they have accomplished the dazzling feat of not losing a single home game. The next few games – which are away games – should be utilised as tests to examine whether they play as well at other venues too. One thing is definite though: no matter who the final winner is, the Rajasthan Royals certainly have won hearts all around with their spirited and street smart displays. Surely, there’ll be many admirers world over wanting them to finally lift the IPL trophy.