Rajasthan Royals (RR) - IPL 5 Analysis
They have been Champions once and would have loved to have an encore. Rahul Dravid replaced Shane Warne as the new leader for RR. Two different men and two drastically different styles of leaderships, however the aim still remains the same - to make RR win the IPL. They could not scrape through to the play-offs but played some good cricket with the resources available. Stand out players for RR this season were Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid. Ajit Chandila made an impression with a hat-trick in his debut match.
| Opposition | Matches | Wins | Losses | N/R | Wins (%) |
| v CSK | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| v DC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| v DD | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| v KKR | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
| v KXIP | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| v MI | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| v PWI | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| v RCB | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% |
Hits:
Ajinkya Rahane:
560 runs in 16 matches and boundary dependency of 54.98%, Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane once again proved why he has been regarded so highly in the domestic circuit. His Average Efficiency as a player with RR was 122.41%, not too far from his overall efficiency of 123.49% shows that he has lived up to the confidence the RR management has shown in him. More importantly, he has lived up to the promise he has been showing for quite some time.
Shane Watson:
With strike rate efficiency of 107.67% and match turn-around potential of 105.40% Watson has proved why he remains one of the potent weapons for RR. He arrived late for Rajasthan Royals as he was serving his national team Australia, in the West Indies. But that has not deterred him from playing the aggressive batter at the top. He holds the boundary dependency ratio of 75.11% hence it`s no surprise that he has scored 255 runs in mere 7 matches. He possesses the ability to turn around the matches on his own and turn-around of 105.40% just seconds that.
Rahul Dravid:
Class, no matter where you go (or in this case which format you play in) follows. Rahul Dravid has led his relatively young side from front. 460 runs in 16 matches and average efficiency of 102.96% overtaking the overall efficiency of 90.85%; Rahul Dravid has shown his ability to adapt and been the most effective contributor for his team.
Surprises:
Ajit Chandila:
He came in as a surprise. The tall and sunglassy bowker was a surprise not only to the opposition but also for RR. He managed to scalp the hat-trick in his first ever game and that remains to be the only hat-trick of IPL-5.
Performance of our Darkhorses:
Dinesh Chandimal and Kevon Cooper:
We backed Kevon Cooper to shine for RR and he surely did. With the Bowling Avg. Efficiency of 154.42%, he was leading the list of highest wicket taker, at one point of time. Dinesh Chnadimal could not do much as he did not get a game to shine for RR.