If there’s any team that showed tremendous improvements in the IPL 2022 season, it would be Rajasthan Royals (or RR). The debut season winners lost a majority of the matches in the last three years. But this season, they finally upped their game, landing just after Gujarat Titans in the second position.
Rajasthan Royals bought several excellent players in the Mega Auction. The squad included Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, R. Ashwin, Trent Boult, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, KC Cariappa, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Shubham Garhwal, James Neesham, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rassie van der Dussen, Daryl Mitchell and Benny Howell.
The fifth match of the tournament began with RR in opposition to SunRisers Hyderabad. Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal furnished a good start to the Royals in the first innings. Sanju Samson stole the show with his blunt shots in the opening game. He scored 55 off 27 balls. Prasidh Krishan and Yuzvendar Chahal brought fortune to the game by fetching two and three of Hyderabad’s batters, respectively. Rajasthan Royals defeated SRH by 61 runs and entered the event with a great start.
Rajasthan Royal players won their second match against Mumbai Indians by 23 runs. However, RR’s third match against Royal Challengers Bangalore ended in a defeat for the Royals. Jos Buttler set an incredible score of 70 runs, along with good assistance from other team members – Devdutt Padikkal (37) and Shimron Hetmyer (42). They set a score of 169 in twenty overs. But RCB played a better game and concluded the game with a score of 173 with four wickets and five balls to spare.
The 20th Match of the IPL was between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal opened the game and were off to a good start, adding a score of 42 runs before the first wicket. The partnership between Shimron Hetmyer and R Ashwin added another 68 runs on board when the Royals were struggling to add runs on board.
Yuzevendar Chahal stole the show after he went on a wicket haul, collecting the Super Giants one after the other, helping his team win by three runs. He was awarded the player of the match for his superb performance and for wiping out LSG’s four wickets.
Rajasthan Royals lost their second match of the season to Gujarat Titans. The IPL debutants chalked up a Massive 192, thanks to Hardik Pandya’s mighty 87 and the powerful performances of Abhinav Manohar and David Miller. The royals had a difficult start as they lost their star opener Padikkal.
Jos Buttler was a lone survivor for the Royals. He achieved a score of 54 off 22 balls. After winning this match, Gujarat Titans sat on the top of the points table, whereas Rajasthan Royals stood third. The following three matches were in Rajasthan’s favor as they won against Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7,15, and 29 runs, respectively.
After their outstanding hat-trick victory, Rajasthan Royals consecutively lost two matches to Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. In their next match, RR clashed against Punjab Kings. PBKS began the game in good spirits, with Bairstow knocking 54 runs along the contributions of Jitesh Sharma (38) and Rajapaksa (27). However, Yashasvi Jaiswal was the player of the moment as he led his team to victory with his half-century. Yuzvendra Chahal starred once again by taking three wickets.
In the 58th match of the season, Delhi Capitals beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets. DC managed to keep the Royals down to a par score of 160. Mitchell Marsh was the MVP of this game. Not only did he chase 89 runs off 62 balls, but he also took two wickets from the Royals.
Rajasthan Royals won another match against Lucknow Super Giants.
After choosing to bat first, Rajasthan Royals put up a strong total of 178/6 in 20 overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal set the Royals up for a defendable target by scoring 41 runs. Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal played solid shots to guide RR. Meanwhile, Lucknow struggled to get going with the bat. Despite a good partnership between Hardik Pandya and Deepak Hooda, Lucknow failed to chase down the target.
The next match for the Royals was important. Not only did they beat CSK by five wickets, but they also earned their spot in the qualifiers. In Qualifier 1, David Miller and Hardik Pandya shared an unbeaten century stand and steered Gujarat Titans to an emphatic 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 1 at Eden Gardens. Captain Samson and Jos Buttler did well with batting to take their team to a reasonable total after being put in to bat first.
After Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow SuperGiants in the eliminator round, Rajasthan Royals were off to compete against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Put in to bat first; Royal Challengers Bangalore stationed a below-par score of 156/7. The match was easily in Rajasthan’s favor as Jos Buttler slammed a record-equalling fourth century in the IPL 2022 and remained unbeaten on 106 off 60 deliveries. With this victory, Rajasthan Royals entered its finals after a wait of 14 years.
The final was finally here. However, they didn’t attain a good score and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Gujarat Titans only needed 131 for the win. Hardik Pandya showed a brilliant all-rounding performance as he knocked out three wickets and scored 34 runs, along with a great partnership with Shubham Gill.
Even if Rajasthan Royals didn’t win, they played very well and with good sportsmanship. Every fan of this team is now expecting a similar performance from the Rajasthan Royals players in the next season and to hold the IPL trophy again after 2008.
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