Rajasthan Royals had a fruitful outing in the Indian Premier League 2024 season, reaching the playoffs on the back of a strong start to the campaign.

The Royals finished third in the IPL 2024 points table with 17 points from 14 matches before beating Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator contest. Their campaign, however, ended in Qualifier 2 after going down to Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

“We have had a great season and all of them played phenomenal cricket throughout. But still a lot to learn, the guys get more experience, which will stand them in good stead,” Royals Head Coach and Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara summed up.

“I think Rajasthan Royals can be very proud of the side that we built and I am extremely proud of everyone who played for us. We had a lot of support from our support staff, a lot of effort and that's all I can ask for.”

 

Here is a glance through some of the high points for the Royals this season.

 

Consistent performances 

 

Skipper Sanju Samson led the Royals to their second playoffs in three years after the team had reached the finals in 2022. In IPL 2023, the Royals finished fifth, missing the cut by two points. In fact, Samson is the only Royals captain to have taken the team to the playoffs twice.

The Royals have been very consistent in the last three seasons winning a total of 26 games with a commendable ratio of 1.3 wins per loss.

In IPL 2024, Samson also became the most-capped Royals captain going past the first skipper and legendary Shane Warne who led the team in 56 matches. Samson, with 31 wins, equalled Warne for most wins as the Royals’ captain, as well.

 

Best start in IPL

 

The Royals won eight of their first nine games in IPL 2024, making it their best start in the history of the tournament, eclipsing their seven wins in IPL 2008. The achievement was even more special as four of those victories came away from home, including a double over five-time champions Mumbai Indians.

 

Samson and Parag all the way

 

Riyan Parag and Samson, both non-openers, finished IPL 2024 with 500-plus runs. It was the first time that two of the Royals’ batters entered the 500-run club in the same season.

Parag was the Royals’ top-scorer this season, third overall, with 573 runs from 14 outings with an excellent average of 52.09 and a strike rate of 149.21. Parag also had four fifties to his name.

Meanwhile, Samson finished fifth in the overall list having amassed 531 runs from 15 innings, including five fifties, the joint-most by any batter this season. The skipper averaged 48.27 and struck at 153.46 to follow Parag in the Royals’ batting chart.

“Looking back at the season, it was wonderful to see Riyan and Sanju, the way they batted and held this side together,” Sangakkara said.

 

The rare double

 

Though the Royals’ opener Jos Buttler had to leave for international duty before the playoffs, he finished IPL 2024 with two centuries, the only player to do so this year. The Englishman remained unbeaten on both occasions, helping the Royals script successful run-chases against RCB and Kolkata Knight Riders.

 

Bowlers hunting collectively

 

The Royals put in a collective bowling performance in IPL 2024 as three bowlers finished with more than 15 wickets only for the third time in the tournament after 2008 and 2022.

Avesh Khan was the Royals’ top wicket-taker this season with 19 wickets from 15 matches, including six wickets in the last two knockout matches. He averaged 27.68 runs per wicket and had an exceptional strike rate of 17.31 (a wicket for every three overs bowled).

“First of all, it was a really good trade that we did. We needed a fast bowler and we traded Avesh because we knew how good he was and he has shown that throughout the tournament,” the former Sri Lanka captain acknowledged.

“He has got great presence of mind and good clarity. He is very good at finishing off in the death. And I think he has been phenomenal for RR and we couldn't have asked for a better try. He bowls a lot in training, he is always up for a game.”

Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal had another good season with the ball picking up 18 scalps from 15 games with a strike rate of 19.33. 

Left-arm pacer Trent Boult was exceptional with the new ball as he picked up 12 wickets in the powerplay, the most by any bowler this season. Boult ended with 16 wickets from 15 games to be the Royals’ third-best bowler.

Sandeep Sharma, who missed a few games earlier in the season due to injury, made a strong comeback as he registered the best bowling figures of 5/18 against MI in IPL 2024. Sandeep was one among only three bowlers to have taken a fifer in IPL 2024.

Sandeep ended the season with 13 wickets from 10 outings at an average of 23.92 and an impressive economy of 8.18, despite bowling the majority of his overs at the death.

“With Sandeep’s pace and skill, we kind of identified that he will be very effective for us through the middle and at the back end. And for two seasons now, Sandeep has been absolutely outstanding for us,” Sangakkara explained. 

“He is just a mature cricketer; he knows exactly what he can do and cannot. He sticks with the basics, he tries to swing the new ball, and once he is out of it, he just changes the pace and is really good.”

“His percentage of effective yorkers is over double the IPL average for a right-handed bowler. He has got incredible skill and we are very lucky to have him,” he concluded.