Newly signed Tabraiz Shamsi of the Rajasthan Royals feel that the 2021 Indian Premier League season is yet very open for his team, especially going into the UAE leg and seven matches still left to play. To Shamsi, the situation is ‘glass half full’ instead of ‘half empty’. Surely, if nothing, this attitude will certainly boost the morale of the troops.
But, will only morale-boosting be able to get the Royals to their first Finals in the last 12 years or even their first Playoffs since 2018? Well, time would have the best of the answers, but for the time being, they have surely great some replacements for after their most expensive players pulled out ahead of the UAE leg.
But before getting to what would be up for them in the UAE leg, it would be only apt to know what transpired in the seven matches that they played during the India leg of the competition.
The Royals started on a really tantalising note with their skipper Sanju Samson hitting a century in their very first match of the season against Punjab Kings, even though they remained four runs short of the target and the controversial turn down for a single by Samson to all-rounder Chris Morris became the talk of the town, especially when Morris went on to single-handedly win the next game for the Royals against the Delhi Capitals by hitting 36 off 18 balls.
After being on both sides of the extreme in their first two games, the Royals got a thrashing in their next two games from Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Banglore. While against Super Kings they were reduced to 143-9 chasing 189, against the RCB, they along with the audiences were treated to a masterclass from Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli, especially Padikkal as he registered his first-ever IPL century and the Challengers Routed the Royals by 10 wickets chasing a target as big as 178.
Not getting demoralised by those two maulings, the men from the pink city came back well in their fifth game of the season to defeat a struggling Kolkata knight riders team by six wickets, having reduced them to 133 in the first innings. Morris was on fire in that match as he finished with figures of 4-23 from his four overs.
Just as it seemed they have got back on the plot, they lost it once again after a seven-wicket defeat by Mumbai Indians. Quinton de Kock was the heor of that game with his 70 off just 50 balls, anchoring the chase throughout as he remained unbeaten.
But then came the Jos Buttler show in what would be the last game of the season so far for the Royals as it was after this game only that the league was postponed. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jos Buttler scored one of the most well-complied hundreds. He not only took his time at the start but was scoring below run a ball for the first 30 balls of his innings.
In the next 34 balls that he played, the Englishman went berserk as he unleashed what was a beast on the ground, hitting Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Sharma for more than 20 runs in consecutive overs.
Courtesy of this ravaging innings, the Royals scored 220 and then bundled out the Hyderabad side for 165. Thus, the Sanju Samson led side would be heading into the UAE leg of the IPL on a winning note.
If there is one side that has been dealt the heaviest of the blows with players pulling out, it is the Rajasthan Royals. First, they lost Jofra Archer in the pre-season itself and then they lost Ben Stokes midseason during the India leg of the league, and now they do not have the services of even Jos Buttler and Australian Andrew Tye, who was first thought of as the genuine replacement for Archer.
But what this has done is, it has brought in fresh faces who always wanted to nake it to an IPL squad but couldn’t. They are the players who are in form and are hungry for success so that they can grab this opportunity and cement their places, not only in an IPL side in the mega auction happening next year, but in their national sides for the upcoming T20 World Cup as well.
Shamsi, the replacement for Archer is currently the number T20I bowler and is very hard to play during any part of the match. Glenn Philipps, the replacement for Stokes is in a scintillating form and confidence-wise rates very high having got himself a place in the Kiwi T20 World Cup squad. He performed decently in The Hundred as well as CPL 2021 and hence is bankable.
The biggest asset however are Liam Livingstone and Evin Lewis, two in-form men who haven’t really get a chance to showcase their mettle in IPL so far. They would be craving this opportunity. Lewis was roped in Buttler while Livingstone came back having missed the entire first round unable to get into the playing XI first and then living the league midway.
Oshane Thomas, the tall fast bowler from Barbados has been signed as a replacement for Tye.
Batsmen: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat, David Miller, Manan Vohra, Glenn Phillips, Evin Lewis
All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Chris Morris, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Mahipal Lomror
Bowlers: Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, Tabraiz Shamsi, Oshane Thomas, K.C. Cariappa, Kuldip Yadav, Kartik Tyagi, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Akash Singh
To be honest, the Royals look like the slickest of all sides with its four probable playing XI foreigners firing all cylinders. Mustafizur Rahman was having a gala time in his home conditions making the Aussies and Kiwis dance to the tunes of his cutters. Livingstone and Shamsi have been in phenomenal form as well and one can never rule out Chris Morris. Thus, the lineup is so strong and inform that players of the sort of Lewis and Phillips are unable to even fit in.
If Sanju Samson could just hit the consistency button hidden somewhere in his brain and the likes of Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag chip in, Royals could very well turn Shamsi’s hopes of reaching the Playoffs true.