IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals have fallen short in three tight finishes — dissecting the reasons behind their struggles while chasing targets.
Rajasthan Royals (RR), the inaugural IPL champions succumbed to their seventh loss this season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) earlier this week. As a result, they became the first team in IPL 2025 to be eliminated from the playoffs contention.
This was yet another so near yet so far kind of loss for RR against RCB and this was an exact replica of the losses they endured in their previous two outings against Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), respectively.
In the game against DC, RR required 9 runs in the final over with seven wickets in hand but couldn’t finish things off as it went to a super over where Delhi pulled off a win. Similar situation prevailed in their next game against LSG (9 from 6 balls with six wickets) and Avesh Khan defended it for the Giants. In the RCB game, RR lost from a winnable position of 18 runs from 12 balls with 5 wickets in hand.
If we take a closer look at all these losses, a thing common is how the Royals bottled up straight forward chases, amidst the presence of set batters at the crease. With a hat-trick of collapse in chasing, RR find themselves out of the tournament and favourable results could have propelled them to the middle of the table.
Read More: IPL 2025, RCB vs RR, Highlights: Rajasthan fall short again; Bengaluru climb to third spot
So what has gone wrong for the Royals this season?
Lack of self-belief
The team from Rajasthan has been low on confidence throughout this season. They endured a shaky start to the campaign in the absence of their regular skipper Sanju Samson for the first few games. While they pulled it back well with two successive wins against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS), RR are now on a 5-match winless streak.
Much of it is due to the lack of self-belief and fearless attitude that we can associate with the RR teams of the past in general. Though they might not have the strongest of squads, the Royals find a way to secure big wins, chase big totals or at least, fight till the end. However, none of it transpired with the RR team thus far in the season.
Not clicking collectively
While we look at the IPL 2025 statistical charts, we can find five of RR’s batters breaching the 200-run aggregate for the season and three bowlers have taken 8 or more wickets. These are good returns from an individual point of view but as a group they have failed.
Read More: IPL 2025, RR vs LSG, Highlights: Rajasthan choke in pursuit of 181; Lucknow move into top 4
Here are the top 5 batters and bowlers for RR in IPL 2025
| Player | Inngs | Runs | SR |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 9 | 356 | 149 |
| Dhruv Jurel | 9 | 238 | 150 |
| Riyan Parag | 9 | 234 | 153 |
| Sanju Samson | 7 | 224 | 143.5 |
| Nitish Rana | 9 | 204 | 168.5 |
Bowlers:
| Player | Inngs | Wkts | Eco |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 7 | 10 | 9.11 |
| Jofra Archer | 9 | 9 | 9.25 |
| Sandeep Sharma | 9 | 8 | 10.43 |
| Theekshana | 8 | 7 | 9.56 |
| T Deshpande | 8 | 6 | 11.25 |
These are not bad numbers for players from a side that is languishing 8th on the points table. In certain games, Yashasvi Jaiswal looked in sensational touch but lacked support from the other batters. The same goes for players like Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer, and Riyan Parag who have looked good in patches.
For instance, the likes of Shemron Hetmyer, Shubman Dubey, and Dhruv Jurel couldn’t finish off things in the last three games, despite a solid platform laid by the top-order batters. Hence, lack of collective contributions is hurting RR badly this season.
Read More: IPL 2025, DC vs RR, Highlights: Starc’s precision helps Delhi win a thriller, go top of the table
Sanju Samson’s captaincy, a big miss
Of the nine games the Royals have played, Sanju Samson has led the team in only four games, owing to multiple injury concerns. This led to Riyan Parag taking over the mantle. However, he hasn’t been able to lead the side to his full potential. From the outset, it looks like the team is not gelling well together and something is definitely wrong with the management.
But on the positive side, most of the players are in good form and some strategic calls like changes in the batting order, in the personnel, or the approach could turn things around. They still have five games to find the right team balance going into the next season.
Read More: IPL 2025, RR vs RCB, Highlights: RR’s middle order botches momentum; Salt takes RCB to third spot
