With one match to go in their IPL 2025 campaign, Rajasthan Royals have only three wins from 13 games. They might have hoped that the enforced break during the tournament due to India and Pakistan’s escalation of hostilities would alter their fortunes, but nothing changed. They had lost a succession of close games in IPL 2025, and that trend continued, when they fell 10 runs short of Punjab Kings’ total of 219 for 5 on Sunday (May 18).
| Opponent | Margin | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi Capitals | Lost in Super Over | April 16 |
| Lucknow Super Giants | Lost by 2 runs | April 19 |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Lost by 11 runs | April 24 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | Lost by 1 run | May 4 |
| Punjab Kings | Lost by 10 runs | May 18 |
“You have to win these matches”
After the defeat against Punjab, head coach Rahul Dravid agreed that there were areas that needed fixing in the Royals.
“It’s been a tough one. We’ve got close but we haven’t been able to finish the job,” Dravid said. “We’ve got ourselves in some really good positions to win the game, but we haven’t been able to finish the job. A little bit around that lower middle-order, we just haven’t been able to click and get the big shots we need.
“You look at the tournament and see we’ve won only three matches, but if you see, we’ve lost five matches very closely. If four-five matches go the other way, the season would look good. That’s not an excuse, because you have to win these matches. If you want to do well in this tournament, you can’t lose all five close matches. You can lose one or two, but not all five. We couldn’t do that this season.”
Bowling, the problem?
While the Royals’ batting has come under scrutiny for their inability to finish off chases, Dravid said the bowling was as much to blame, because they had conceded above-par totals too often.
“It’s been one of those kind of seasons where we always feel with the ball that we probably gave 15-20 runs extra,” Dravid felt. “It’s been five games now where the margins have been 10 runs, 1 run, 2 runs.. That’s really one or two hits, which you need in that phase but just haven’t been able to do. And also I think with the ball – there’s no point just blaming the batsmen.
“If you see the full season, maybe we couldn’t do as well in the bowling – whether taking wickets or controlling runs. In nine or ten matches we’ve chased, we have had to chase totals of 210-220 everytime. Even then our batters, especially the openers, have been giving us very good starts, but we haven’t been able to finish. We need to work on that for the next season for sure.”
Dravid’s assessment was factual. In seven games, the Royals have conceded 200-plus. In two others, they’ve conceded 180-plus.
Looking ahead
Despite the poor results in IPL 2025, Dravid remained optimistic about his team’s long-term prospects, pointing to the wealth of young Indian talent they had, particularly among the batters.
“There is hope because there’s some good young talents in the team,” Dravid said. “Jaiswal’s batting, Vaibhav’s batting, Jurel’s batting.. There’s Riyan, there’s Sanju – we have quite a few good young Indian batters, and in a year’s time they’ll be even better. Maybe we’ll have to look at the bowling a bit.
“With a few changes and a little bit of luck next year, that might change. I think players will be more experienced one year down the line as well, so that should hold us in good stead.
While the Indian batting contingent did sparkle intermittently, one glaring miss in the batting was Shimron Hetmyer. Dravid defended the West Indian, saying he had put in three years of excellent performances for the Royals. However, he did acknowledge the need for change.
“In the next season, there will be a need for some correction and some change, if we want to remain competitive in this tournament. A lot of these boys will play a good amount of cricket during the year, for India too. They’ll play tough cricket, so hopefully when they come back next year, they’ll be even more experienced. They’re already very talented players. It’s a matter of pride for us that we have so many talented players. It’s a positive thing for Rajasthan to have these kind of players in our team.”
