It was on the 16th of April when the Rajasthan Royals beat the Gujarat Titans by three wickets to go two points clear at the top of the table. It was their fourth win in five games and they looked set to mount another serious assault at the title, after finishing as runners-up last season. What followed since then, however, was the stuff of nightmares for the Royals. They proceeded to lose six of their next eight games and even a win in their last game of the campaign wasn’t enough, as results elsewhere didn’t go in their favor. They finished fifth with 14 points and will look back on this season as a missed opportunity. So, what went so wrong for a unit that looked so utterly dominant to start the season? Let’s find out.

One of the biggest positives for the Royals has been their batting in the powerplay and in those first five games, they outscored their opponents by an average of almost 15 runs in the period, while losing one less wicket than the opposition as well. In the next eight, however, that advantage slipped to just over six runs. The big issue was unquestionably a toothless bowling attack, which only managed seven wickets in those eight powerplays.

                                                                                                                  Powerplay 

Failing to get those early breakthroughs in turn meant they struggled in the middle overs and teams just teed off against them in that period. After having a slight edge in them in those first five games, the Royals were comfortably second-best in them in the next eight.                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                  Middle Overs

In each of their last four losses, the Royals on average were outscored 83.5-63.5 in the middle overs, and that has proven to be too big of a difference to overcome. They have also lost 16 wickets in the period while picking up just six. In total in their seven losses in the campaign, the Royals were outscored in the middle overs six times, and getting dominated in that period ultimately proved to be their downfall. They had quite a few narrow losses and some of those could have gone their way had they not been second-best in the middle period.

Looking forward to next season, the bowling unit is something that the Royals need to address. Perhaps the return of Prasidh Krishna might help matters as he missed this whole season after picking up 19 wickets in 2022. There are slight concerns regarding the batting following a couple of disappointing displays but they fulfilled their end of the bargain for the most part. It will be very interesting to see what changes the Royals make in 2024 in an attempt to return to the playoffs.