'Jos Buttler was key to...': Anil Kumble slams Rajasthan Royals amid poor IPL 2025 season

IPL 2025: Jos Buttler was released by Rajasthan Royals. (Photo: IPL)

The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season has seen the Rajasthan Royals perform poorly. Regular captain Sanju Samson has missed most of the team's games owing to injury, and he will also miss the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The team has lost six of its last eight games and is currently lingering in the bottom part of the standings.

Against the Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, the Royals were unable to chase down nine runs in the last over. They lost the Super Over match against Delhi, and they lost by two runs against LSG.

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RR has been under fire for a number of tactical errors. Their batting order is a topic of discussion. Rajasthan received a lot of brickbats as a result of the management's choice to bring in Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer before Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Super Over against the Delhi Capitals.

Anil Kumble, a JioStar expert for "Revenge Week" and a former captain of the India Test team, offered his thoughts on RR's difficulties this season. The renowned cricketer advocated for Shimron Hetmyer's promotion in the batting order and stated that he dislikes teams who use a right-left combination. This year, Hetmyer has mostly been utilized as a finisher.

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"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 thinks the team's chances this season have suffered because Samson has missed the most of the games.

"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 shocked that Jos Buttler, who is currently lighting up the Gujarat Titans' stage, was not retained by the Rajasthan Royals.

"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.