New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach Rahul Dravid was seen scribbling throughout his team's IPL 2025 matches, drawing a lot of curiosity regarding this gesture. While some jokingly remarked that Dravid was helping out his team's 14-year-old batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi with his homework, others chipped in stating that he might be preparing notes. Dravid recently cleared the air in this regard, sharing that he has a unique way of recording the scores in a match. "It is very comfortable and helps me review the game without looking at the scorecard. There is no rocket science involved," revealed the former Team India head coach.
When Dravid scrolls through the pages while reviewing his team's results in IPL 2025, he might certainly pay keen attention towards the focus on youngsters and the resultant impact on their fortunes. The Rajasthan-based franchise has been hailed by one and all for providing an opportunity to some extraordinary talent over the years like Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, this approach badly backfired in IPL 2025, as evident from their ninth-placed finish on the points table following four wins in 14 matches. This is certainly a massive fall from grace for a team that finished runners-up in IPL 2022.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!RR invested a lot of faith in talented youngsters like Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel, retaining them for huge sums. However, lack of experience and the absence of enough proven match-winners resulted in failure despite coming extremely close. RR managed to chase down a target only once in eight instances, with players like Shubham Dubey simply unable to get the job done under pressure. The decision to release ex-England captain Jos Buttler especially stands out, considering his performances for RR and the 500-run season he is currently enjoying. However, the franchise certainly deserves its fair share of plaudits for investing faith in Suryavanshi, who's been hailed as a 'boy wonder' after scoring 252 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 206.55.
The 14-year-old showcased immense maturity in RR's final match against CSK, helping his side dominate. "You go back to watching the great Sachin Tendulkar emerging onto the scene but Suryavanshi's ton against GT surpasses that. It is unbelievable for a 14-year-old," reacted ex-England captain Nasser Hussain.
Jaiswal and Suryavanshi were the sole saving grace in RR's batting department. The former especially stood out with his performances, smashing 559 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 159.71 and an average of 43. Jaiswal is currently on the third spot in the leading run-scorers' list, showcasing his excellence. Parag (393) and Jurel (333) are the RR batters with the most number of runs after Jaiswal, showcasing the massive gap in run-scoring. Samson was sidelined for a few matches due to injury which certainly did not help matters. "RR’s middle order malfunctioned quite a lot in IPL 2025," reacted JioStar expert Varun Aaron.
Interestingly, RR have recorded the most sixes in IPL 2025, smashing 146 sixes with PBKS (130 sixes) placed on the second spot. This is certainly a positive they will be looking to build on.
Who's that IPL player?Even the bowling department left much to be desired, with the decision to let go of Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult coming back to haunt RR. Krishna is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2025 with 21 wickets while Boult has registered 18 dismissals. In comparison, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer and Maheesh Theekshana finished as RR's joint top wicket-takers, accounting for just 11 dismissals each.
Rumours of Samson's alleged rift with Dravid further worsened matters. While RR certainly had a season to forget, they are well capable of bouncing back and there can be no one better than India's T20 World Cup 2024-winning coach to pull off a comeback for the ages.
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