(Cricket news) With the completion of their fourteen matches in the IPL, Rajasthan Royals have ended their chances to qualify for the playoffs. They are currently in seventh place with ten points and only won two matches in the second phase at UAE. This is the third year they are finishing in the last two positions of the table points as they had last reached the playoff in 2018, Sanju Samson finished on top among the batters for the second consecutive time and Chris Morris finished on top among the bowlers for the second time after 2015.
Their bowling line did not once get the opposition all out in this season as only three bowlers played the full fourteen matches and there was a single four wicket haul by Chris Morris which showed the dismal form of the players. Chris Morris took 15 wickets in only eleven matches as Chetan Sakariya and Mustafizur Rahman finished with 14 wickets in as many matches. Chetan and Mustafizur finished with the most dot balls as they bowled 113 balls.
Their best bowling performance came in their fifth match which they played against Kolkata Knight Riders where they restricted the team for a score of 133. The star performer was Chris Morris who took four wickets for 23 runs and three more bowlers had an economy rate under 6.
In the batting line up, Sanju Samson finished with 484 runs in fourteen matches which is his highest in a season. But he was the only batter who scored more than 300 runs this season as Jos Butler came in second with 254 runs in just seven matches as he didn’t play in the second phase of the league. Samson and Butler also were the only ones to score a century and Samson was the only to hit more than one fifty as the batters did not show consistency in both the phases.
The team crossed the 200 run mark twice in fourteen matches, the team scored 217 in their first match of the season which they played against Punjab Kings. Powered by a 119 from captain Samson they lost the chase by just four runs as none of the other batters scored more than 30. In their seventh match, Jos Butler played a timely innings of 124 to take the side to 220 which is their highest of the season and beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by over 60 runs.
Rajasthan could not cross the 100 run mark in their last two matches which cost them dearly. In their 13th match which they played against Mumbai Indians, they could only score 90 runs and in their last match they could just manage 85 runs as Rahul Tewatia scored more than half of the runs in the final match. Rajasthan will have a lot to introspect as they performed poorly in their final stages which brought them to the bottom of the table and now will look to come back stronger next year.
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