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Among the great ironies of do-or-die clashes in sports is how much it reveals or exposes a player's temperament, decision-making, and clutch gene. Yet, in the same breath, such elimination games allow unfathomable anomalies to sway the contest one way or the other.
The IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) saw the Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffer from an even sprinkling of both halves, resulting in a 36-run defeat and elimination from the tournament.
Which of the two paved the way for RR's exit - lack of temperament and clutchness by them or several aberrations going against them at the wrong time, is in the eye of the beholder.
For starters, here are a few eye-popping numbers:
RR's spin twins, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal: 8-0-77-0
SRH's left-arm spinners, Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma: 8-0-47-5
And this is on a Chennai track Ashwin has owned over the years in the IPL, with 50 wickets at an average of under 20 and an economy of 6.15 in 41 games.
Before Qualifier 2, the RR duo combined for 27 wickets in 105 overs, while the two SRH spinners tallied three wickets in 24 overs.
Cut to the batting, and a well-set Yashasvi Jaiswal on 42 off 20 deliveries miscues a lofted shot against left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed to turn on the collapse switch. RR fans can close their eyes as we look at Jaiswal's numbers before the dismissal against Spin in the last two IPLs.
IPL 2023: 210 runs, 153.30 strike rate, no dismissals
IPL 2024: 101 runs, 171.30 strike rate, no dismissals
And 311 runs later, the southpaw chose exactly last night with the game hanging in the balance at 65/1 in the eightth over in a run-chase of 175 to be dismissed by spin for the first time since IPL 2022.
Call it SRH's brilliance, RR's choke job, or both, but astonishing statistical anomalies happening at the most inopportune times must factor into the narrative. Yet, it would be criminal to allow RR an escape route by brushing aside their elimination as just a series of anomalies going against them.
Brain fades and tactical blunders accelerated RR's demise
If the above numbers were solace for RR fans, here are a slew of regrettable movements and moves that separated the side from a final berth to returning home empty-handed.
After the bowlers produced an admirable display to restrict SRH's powerful batting lineup to 175, victory was there for the taking if the RR batters displayed composure and clarity. Yet, it was anything but as each batter bar none chose ill-advised options to succumb under duress.
On a pitch where batting was simpler during the powerplay, the struggling Tom Kohler-Cadmore mustered a painful 16-ball 10. However, fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal more than made up for it by racing to 33 off 15 and propelling RR to 51/1 after the powerplay.
Yet, a rush of blood saw the southpaw, playing as the lone left-hander in the top five, throw his wicket away to a left-arm spinner and open the floodgates for SRH skipper Pat Cummins to barge through.
Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar was scathing in his criticism of Jaiswal after the game on Star Sports by saying:
"I feel his reckless shot resulted in Rajasthan Royals’defeat. He was set and even had drinks during the break. Jaiswal should have taken sometime before playing another big shot in the game. Hyderabad didn’t had any big turners in the side and Yashasvi’s departure allowed their bowlers to crawl back. There is no problem with his temperament but his shot selection is not right."
Yet, Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma were no Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel until RR skipper Sanju Samson and the in-form Riyan Parag made them out to be.
The duo played reckless hacks through the on-side only to be caught at the deep, much to the disgust of Gavaskar, who slammed Parag for a lack of temperament.
"Seriously, seriously? What's the use of all the talent if you're not going to think? What kind of shot is that? Seriously. So much talent… if you don't have the temperament, it's not going to work. So what if you had a few dot balls? You can make up for that," Gavaskar said in his on-air commentary on Star Sports.
If the brain-fade moments by in-form and established batters weren't enough, the think tank further accentuated RR's woes with numerous tactical errors.
Playing on a Chennai strip with uneven boundary distance on either side, a right-left batting combination was the way to go. Added to this is SRH fielding no specialist spinners and predominantly only left-arm tweakers.
Yet, what was RR's response as Shahbaz and Abhishek were running circles around them? Keep pushing their lone left-hander in the middle order, Shimron Hetmyer, to a point where he came in at No.7 in the 12th over.
And the selection of their playing XI further begs the 'what could have been' question. Kohler-Cadmore looked woefully out of form in his two previous innings, and RR had the luxury of power-hitting left-hander Shubham Dubey warming the benches.
Imagine opening the batting with Dhruv Jurel, something he does for his state side, instead of Cadmore and possessing another left-hander in the middle order. Could it have helped against the two SRH left-arm spinners with the shorter boundary on one side? This type of question will nag RR for the rest of the off-season until the next IPL.
RR's three-part IPL 2024 Tale: Smooth take off - Turbulent flight - Crash landing
RR's IPL 2024 campaign had everything - searing highs, disappointing lulls, and an anti-climatic ending. The side led the way by showcasing brilliance on and off the field, be it the usage of the Impact Sub-rule or having the players play their roles perfectly at the start of the season.
The result? Four thumping wins, a smooth take-off, and renewed title hopes. What followed were a few turbulences that were well-covered to the point where RR won four out of the following five despite several blatant errors.
With eight wins in nine games, a top-two finish was a foregone conclusion, and questions on RR being the best single-season side were taking center stage. Yet, living with prosperity is not everyone's cup of tea, and RR found that out in the worst way, losing their next four outings to shockingly miss out on playing Qualifier 1.
The wheels were slowly but surely coming off in a campaign that promised so much. However, RR resurrected their journey with an impressive victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Eliminator. Yet, the damage had already been done in the second half of the league stage.
It is not without reason that only one team has ever won three straight games after finishing in the third or fourth position to win an IPL title in the 14 years of the playoff format.
And so when their league-stage finale against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) got abandoned to relegate them to a third-place finish, it was a sign of their title hopes going down the drain.
How a stroke of off-season genius got undone by over-reliance on Impact Sub Rule
Amidst the furor with the Hardik Pandya trade from the Gujarat Titans (GT) to the Mumbai Indians (MI) during the off-season before IPL 2024 got lost RR's brilliant move to send batter Devdutt Padikkal to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for pacer Avesh Khan.
Comparing the duo's performances this season enhances why the RR think tank deserves applause. Avesh finished the joint-fourth highest wicket-taker of IPL 2024 with 19 scalps, while Padikkal endured a dismal campaign with an average of 5.42 in seven games.
Avesh's death-bowling performances played a massive role in RR's playoff qualification, finishing his run with three-wicket hauls in the Eliminator and Qualifier 2.
Yet, they faltered at the Mini Auction by over-relying on the Impact Sub Rule to save them from a lack of genuine all-rounders. There is no denying that the rule has made all-rounders a luxury over a necessity, but RR went overboard in packing their side with specialists.
In a format where all-rounders are worth every penny of their big bucks (see KKR's balance with Sunil Narine and Andre Russell), RR had Ravichandran Ashwin as their best bet for the role.
Could they have invested in specialist all-rounders over signing Rovman Powell for ₹7.40 crore or acquiring Nandre Burger, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, and Shubham Dubey, used sparingly throughout the season? One look at the scorecards in which they bowled first (Qualifier 2 being the latest example) and managed through only five bowling options will reveal the answer.
The Mega Auction for IPL 2025 is an opportunity to course-correct their strategies around all-rounders. Until then, RR can lick their wounds thinking of the series of anomalies working against them in Qualifier 2, their tactical blunders and lack of execution under pressure, and several other 'what-ifs.
