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| Picture Courtesy: ESPNCRICINFO.COM |
The match against Delhi Daredevils must have been a eye opener for the Rajasthan Royals. Being an ardent fan, i was surprised to see a below par performance from Rajastan Royals. In this match, Delhi had won 21 overs out of 40 and still managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory. The late brilliance in the field by Hodge ( a splendid Catch and a direct Hit) to remove the set batsmen proved fatal for Delhi and they lost their way in the final over. Here are some recommendations for Rajasthan Royals for them to do better in this IPL season. I had a written a similar blog for Royal Challengers. Now doing this for another Royal.
Improve the bowling:
For me the team with greater bowling prowess will do well in this league. Rajasthan was plagued with Star bowlers which other teams boast off. In order to maximise their existing pool, these are some of the recommendation:
- Sreeshant spell was good. Baring that, nothing was special.Shreeshant should be saved for the last 4 over spell.
- Badree bowled good 70 % of the time, the rest 30% did all the damage. He should be used in the start and middle overs. With Watson in for the next match, he might loose his place in the side. Badree can be replaced with an local Indian spinner reserve.
- Siddhartha Trivedi was good and should be used in the middle overs. ( between 7th - 14th over).
- Rahul Shukla was a nervous debutant and should be persisted. He should open with Shreeshant and finish up his quota at a single go.
- Cooper was good in the death overs and should be conitnued in the same manner like this match.
Recommendation for the next match: With Shane Watson joining the team and his bowling under question, the existing bowling unit should be persisted. They should use the off cutters of Menaria and slow bowling of Binny more frequently.
Improve the death over batting:
Its early days, but Rajasthan Royals looked highly unprepared to tackle the death overs. Umesh Yadav bowling flustered the batting greats like Dravid and Hodge. More homework is required on the opposition prowess and bowling strategy to tackle the final overs. With Watson joining in, he should open with Rahane and Hodge should come second down. This will expose Hodge to more bowling and in turn prepare him for the death overs. Dravid seemed to be tired towards the end. Would recommend him dropping his batting position to the final overs to be better prepared physically to tackle the bowling. Dravid seems injured, which can be a blessing in disguise as it can give a good chance to the talented Menaria to prove himself in the first down slot rather languishing in the tails.
More inspired captaincy:
When the Delhi Daredevils were blazing along, Rajasthan players had almost given up. Had it not been the momentary brilliance of Hodge on the field, Rajasthan royals would have definitely been on the loosing end. Hopefully, things will improve as tournament progresses. Opponents have become stronger and it will require an inspired performance on the field by this talent team to prove their mettle and captaincy can play a big role in that.
My Team for tomorrow and the rest of the league for key matches ( in batting order): Rahane, Watson, Menaria, Hodge, Binny, Dravid, Perera, Shukla, Trivedi, any local offspineer and Sreeshant.
