The Rajasthan Royals have gained a reputation for encouraging and developing youthful talent throughout the years. RR hasn’t had much success as a team since winning the first IPL season in 2008; their 2022 runners-up performance was the squad’s greatest season to date. The Royals were officially eliminated from the IPL 2025 after their 100-run loss to MI on Thursday, May 1. This meant that they would not be able to qualify for the playoffs for another season.
The one thing that sustains RR in the midst of all of this is their ongoing efforts to elevate gifted young players to the top, with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi at the top of the list. Fielding coach Dishant Yagnik doesn’t think the Royals have many worries for the current cycle and beyond, despite the fact that the franchise has recently been under fire for its retention decisions, which included the significant departures of Jos Buttler and Trent Boult.
“Whenever a new player has entered our side over the years, they weren’t stars already,” Yagnik explained during the post-match press conference.
“They became stars at our franchise. The current bunch, we’re confident that they will become stars, we’ll make them stars. We don’t buy superstars, we make superstars, that’s our tagline.
“For example, take Vaibhav Suryavanshi, everyone was happy and emotional for him the way he batted. So, in the coming years, guys like him will become stars.
“Time has come for us to look beyond such things (regretting not retaining players like Buttler). When we don’t have them, we have to forget and move on. Now we have Vaibhav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson is our captain. We’ll go ahead with this side and we’ll prove our winning ability with this side.”
Yagnik bemoaned the Royals’ failure to carry out their plans during crucial situations as he thought back on the 2025 campaign. They lost three straight run chases as a result, and looking back, those were six crucial points lost. It was a cakewalk by today’s T20 standards, with the equation being in single figures entering into the last over of the chase against the Delhi Capitals and the Lucknow Super Giants. However, the DC game entered a Super Over, and RR further lost the plot in their executions and preparations, ultimately losing. The choke drama persisted against LSG when the hitters were unable to end the game.
RR’s campaign hit a snag, and if it was Mitchell Starc in the first match, it was Avesh Khan in the second one. The equation had come down to 17 needed off 12 balls against RCB, which was another simple scenario to find yourself in, but the Royals once again managed to lose, ultimately losing by 11 runs. Yagnik acknowledged that his team could have performed far better in those three games.
“If you look at most of the games, we were often close to winning those matches. In those crunch moments where execution is crucial, we probably fell short in close games and that’s how two points went away from us. As you know, we were dominating in those three games (against DC, LSG and RCB) but there was a shortage in execution during crunch moments. It happens in cricket.”
The fielding department is another area where RR significantly fell short. They made the mistake of making too many receptions, several of which were crucial to the game’s final outcome. More proof of this was found against MI, as Suryakumar Yadav skillfully took advantage of several reprieves. Yagnik decided to see this season’s mistakes as an exception and believed that fielding form varies in the sport.
“I’ve been the fielding coach for eight years now. From 2018 to 2023 if you check the data, we were always in the top three (in terms of fielding). Once in a while, such a season comes when you miss a lot of catches in back-to-back games. It happens with all franchises.
“In cricket, taking and missing catches are part and parcel of the game. Even today, three catches were missed. What matters is your level of preparation.”
After the five-time champions scored an impressive 217 on a surface that wasn’t exactly a belter, Yagnik was full of praise for MI’s batting performance. To be fair, RR’s bowlers did carry out their strategies for the most part, but some excellent batting from the visitors overcame them. Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya continued the work after Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma established the foundation with their individual fifties, as MI finished with a formidable total on the board.
In his assessment of his team’s bowling, Yagnik praised MI for putting up an outstanding display rather than being overly harsh.
“If someone’s skill proves to be a handful for your bowling plans, like Rohit’s skill set, Surya’s skill set. They batted well and hit sixes off really good balls. So, you have to credit Mumbai Indians’ batters for the way they batted, In the last game, GT conceded that Vaibhav played classy shots. Similarly, you need to credit MI for their batting.”
In retrospect, the Royals’ choice to bowl at the toss on a night when dew didn’t appear to be present seemed foolish. As expected by the home team, batting did not get any easier in the second half on a sluggish surface. It wasn’t shocking that RR decided to bowl after their resolute chase against GT, but the outcome didn’t work out well for them. Yagnik also backed RR’s pursuit strategy, pointing to the move’s rationale.
“If you look at the previous games played at this venue, batting has always been easier to bat in the second innings. There is always the expectation of dew. With the weather being a bit overcast then (at the time of the toss), there was also the possibility of getting some swing early. So, keeping all these technical points in mind, we bowled first.”
