‘Rajasthan Royals missing Sanju Samson; should've retained Jos Buttler': Anil Kumble
Rajasthan Royals' performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season has left much to be desired. The franchise has been without the services of regular captain Sanju Samson for most of the games, and he will also miss the upcoming fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium due to a side strain. The franchise is languishing in the bottom half of the points table after losing six out of eight matches.
The Royals failed to chase down nine runs in the final over against Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants. They lost against Delhi in the Super Over, while against Rishabh Pant and co, the team fell two runs short.
RR have been facing severe criticism for some tactical blunders. Questions are being raised about their batting order. In the Super Over against Delhi Capitals, the management opted to send in Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer first ahead of Yashasvi Jaiswal, and this decision led to many brickbats coming Rajasthan's way.
Former India Test captain Anil Kumble, a JioStar expert for the 'Revenge Week', weighed in on RR's struggles this year. The legendary cricketer said he is not fond of teams using a right-left combination and vouched for Shimron Hetmyer's promotion in the batting order. Hetmyer has largely been used as a finisher this year.
"In T20 format, there's no set batting order. There's no set bowling order. Everyone needs to be adaptable. As a spinner, if I go and tell the captain that I can only bowl after six overs, I can't bowl in the powerplay. That's not a great thing," said Kumble while replying to a Hindustan Times query.
"And similarly, as a batter, you can't have a set pattern saying; I can only bat after 15 overs. It's a matter of understanding the situation and utilising your resources in the best possible way. Sometimes we get too fixated with this right-left combination.
"Someone like Shimron Hetmyer, who's known as a finisher, needs to get the right opportunity. Ideally, we don't want a situation where he needs to go in when you need 13-14 runs and over. Might as well send him when you require 8 or 9 or 10. Your chances of winning are more," he added.
Kumble believes not having Samson for most games has affected the franchise's chances this season.
"Missing Sanju Samson is a big thing. He is a key player for Rajasthan Royals. Yashaswi batting well is certainly a good thing for them.
Kumble was also surprised the Rajasthan Royals did not retain Jos Buttler, who is currently setting the stage on fire for the Gujarat Titans.
"Jos Buttler was the key player for the Rajasthan Royals for a while. He was instrumental in single-handedly damaging the opposition," said the former India spinner, who has 619 Test wickets to his name.
"I was a bit surprised that RR didn't retain him. However, with the team that they have, they should have won both the games. It happens. It's happened to many teams. You will sort of lose from a winning position. I am sure that's something that they will have to assess. Otherwise, they have the team. It's not that they don't have the team to beat any side in this competition. It's just a matter of understanding that you don't leave the charge right till the end. Some teams can win from those situations. But when you are not doing it, you might as well think that you only have 19 overs to chase down rather than 20. That may sort of help Rajasthan," he added.
Kumble, who has captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the past, believes that the franchise has not read the conditions at home properly. The Rajat Patidar-led side has lost all its matches at home so far.
"It's just adapting to the conditions. People think that when you're playing at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, it's going to be a flat track. You need 250 with the kind of impact players now and with the kind of batting that these young batters are doing. So, when you're batting first, it becomes a bit of a challenge. What's a good score? But again, you need to assess the conditions. Maybe that's something that RCB haven't done really well. And the added fact that I feel for RCB, especially when they're batting first, Virat becomes a very, very key player for them," said Kumble.
"Because all the batters around him look to really attack from ball one. Their only mantra is that. Whereas, I think Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli, those two are the key to lay a solid foundation. And I was a bit surprised, especially when RCB played Punjab. I know it was a short-haul game. That they didn't pick Devdutt Padikkal. Because I felt that he was a missing key there for that game. But it's just a matter of time. They won last year. So, it's no different this year. It's not that every game they have played, it's only that they have lost this year," he stated.
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