ANALYSIS
Follow UsAt the start of the season, Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson was more stressed about the absence of England pacer, Jofra Archer. The worry then extended to Ben Stokes, Andrew Tye and Liam Livingstone as the franchise had just four foreign players to choose from for the rest of the tournament.
However, luckily for team, the news of the COVID-19 outbreak and their new-found form came at the right time, as they grabbed onto the fifth place on the IPL table. Yet before the restart, they find themselves in a repeat of all the unfortunate events from the first half of the season.
Jos Buttler, Stokes, Archer and Tye have all either ruled themselves out of the tournament or have been injured. With the show starting soon, the franchise went in with a string of changes to their setup – Tabraiz Shamsi, Evin Lewis, Glenn Phillips and Oshane Thomas – have been roped in by the franchise.
Change in the batting dynamics for Royals – Evin Lewis and Glenn Phillips
The absence of Buttler and Stokes takes away the crux of the Royals’ top order, which now lies on the shoulders of their skipper Samson. In the first half of the 2021 IPL season, the franchise found themselves staring at the barrel in the first six overs, scoring the lowest runs in the tournament (302 runs).
On top of that, their strike-rate in the powerplay was also the second-lowest, at 119.4, with the tournament average being at 128.26. In addition, their run-rate against the new ball was at 7.2, second-lowest in the tournament and also average just 23.1 runs per wicket. Now with Buttler and Stokes out of the tournament, the decision to sign Lewis and Phillips, comes as a vital move.
Lewis comes an automatic upgrade to their openers, with an enormous experience on the international circuit, with 681 runs for the Windies in the last two years, averaging 30.95 while still crunching them at 153. With just three ducks in 24 innings, the Windies opener not just adds explosion to this top-order but also gives them consistency, scoring a six off every 9.2 delivery.
In T20s since 2019 (powerplay), the southpaw has averaged 37.5, scoring 1125 runs, with a strike rate of 134.73, attacking 52.8% of the deliveries with a boundary percentage of 78.40 while still having a control of 73.8%. Unlike other openers, his strike-rate actually improves post the powerplay, with 157.58 in the middle-overs and 171.88 to top at the death. There is, however, a pertinent weakness to his batting against spin, where both his average and strike-rate take a hit.
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Phillips, on the other hand, isn’t as explosive to begin with like Lewis but his all-rounded approach to the innings combined with the fact that he can take the gloves, will be crucial for the Royals. Since 2019, the right-handed Kiwi batsman has scored 2289 runs, averaging 32.7 at a strike rate of 146.17. His versatility, at anywhere in the top four would come as a massive bonus for the franchise.
At the top of the order, the right-hander has scored 831 runs at 30.78, with a strike-rate of 132.5 but is equally effective as a No.4, where his runs tally account to 1051 runs, at 43.79, striking it at 160.2. Given that the Royals have had difficulty in the first half of the season with their middle-order, with over-reliance on the skipper Sanju Samson. In the five games that Samson played in the middle overs (7-14), the RR skipper scored 124 runs at a strike rate of 131.9 with just one dismissal. The second highest-run scorer was Shivam Dube, with 108 runs with Miller scoring just 42 runs.
What would perfectly work for the Royals is the fact that Phillips is extremely strong against spin, something that the franchise struggled with. In the seven games, the franchise scored the least runs against the slower bowlers. While their strike-rate was the second best, only behind Chennai Super Kings, they would be boosted by the addition of Phillips, who averages 46.85 against spin while having a strike-rate of 134.1.
Spin can be a startling difference with the ball – Tabraiz Shamsi and Oshane Thomas
Replacing Jofra Archer isn’t the easiest of things, perhaps, there is no real replacement for the English speedster. While Tye isn’t on the same page as Archer, his accolades in T20 competitions around the globe is note-worthy. In their absence, the franchise has signed the World No.1 T20I spinner Shamsi while signing a former Royal in Thomas.
Since the turn of 2019, Thomas has picked 18 wickets in the powerplay at 26.2, conceding 9.4 RPO. In the same time phase, Archer has picked five more wickets at an economy rate of 6.2. While it is merely impossible to replace Archer, the emergence of Chetan Sakariya, Jaydev Unadkat and the presence of all-rounder Chris Morris could allow for the franchise to field Thomas.
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While including Thomas would be a tricky decision for the Royals, the inclusion of Tabraiz Shamsi should be fairly straightforward. With the ball, only three wickets for the Royals last season came via the spin department, at an economy rate of 10.4, averaging 107.7 runs/wicket. Every 62nd ball, the franchise picked up a wicket via spin, that is once every ten overs.
In the last two years, Shamsi has grown multi-fold in the shortest format, having picked 63 wickets in 50 T20s, averaging 17.8 at an economy rate of 6.7 with the ball (overs 7-14). With a dot ball percentage of 33.1, he offers control in the middle-overs that the Royals lacked. In T20Is, the left-arm spinner has accounted for 38 wickets, at 18.1, conceding just 6.5 RPO, which shows that he would well fit into the scheme of things.
(All stats are updated till September 12, 2021)
