Why IPL 2024 was a season of two halves for Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals retained Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, and Sandeep Sharma. (Image PTI)

The simplest way to characterize the Rajasthan Royals' IPL 2024 campaign is as a season with two opposing halves. Their dominating start to the competition made them early title contenders, but their late-stage slump raised questions about their consistency.

The Rajasthan Royals were among the strongest teams in the first half of the season. Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Jos Buttler spearheaded their top order, which produced game-winning performances. Their batting was further reinforced by Riyan Parag's comeback in the middle order.

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Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, and R Ashwin led the bowling attack, which was quite successful in the middle overs and powerplay. As a result of their convincing victories, RR took the top spots on the points table. But in the second half of the season, things drastically changed. Their performances began to be impacted by weariness, injuries, and tactical errors. Batting breakdowns were caused by Jaiswal's inconsistent play, Buttler's sporadic mistakes, and an over dependence on Parag and Samson in crucial situations.

RR's early strength, the bowling unit, began to leak runs at critical times, and their death bowling became a serious problem.

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After winning eight of their first nine games, RR went on to lose four straight matches. With 17 points, RR ended third in the team rankings, and their final league game was rained out.

RR lost to SRH in Qualifier 2, after they triumphed over the soaring Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler, the RR openers, were incredibly erratic for the team, scoring a combined 268 runs at 24.36.

Jaiswal ended with 435 runs (SR: 155.91), having only twice reached the 50-run milestone.

Buttler didn't score a fifty in his other nine appearances this year, despite hitting two tons, scoring scored 359 runs in the end at a strike rate of 140.78.

Riyan Parag and skipper Samson drove RR with their steady run-scoring. Samson scored 531 runs at a strike rate of 48.27 in his most successful season in terms of runs, although Parag hit 573 runs at a strike rate of 52.09 and was RR's top scorer.

The IPL 2024 first half saw the Rajasthan Royals display their ability to win the championship, but the second half saw them struggle with consistency and form. They ultimately lost a good finish due to their failure to keep up the pace, therefore their campaign was a real season of two halves.