New Delhi: After that historic innings at Eden Gardens, Rajasthan Royals fans must have had only one wish in their mind - I wish Sanju Samson had stayed with us for one more season. Even after this, many times the fans saw how that one player carried the burden of the expectations of the entire team on his shoulders. Now that Sanju is not in the team, there will be both happiness and disappointment in the hearts of the fans. It's been 18 years since Shane Warne's 'kids' lifted the trophy for the first and last time. Now the team is coming in with a new captain, so the biggest question is who will replace Sanju?

Rajasthan Royals has fallen apart?

The team's strength started decreasing with the departure of big names like Jos Buttler. Now when the last hope Sanju Samson has also gone to Chennai Super Kings, the team is completely shattered. However, Rajasthan's batting line-up is full of Indian players. There are names like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey and Ravindra Jadeja. Among the foreign players are Shimron Hetmyer and Sam Curran. At first glance, this batting has all the firepower required for a T20 match.

But, in a two-month long tournament, firepower alone is not enough, consistency i.e. continuous good performance is also necessary for victory. The question is, how many batsmen are there in the Rajasthan team who can score runs continuously throughout the season? The answer probably boils down to just one name – Yashasvi Jaiswal. Parag, Jurel and Hetmyer have performed as per their ability in just a few seasons. However, it is true that on their day, Jaiswal, Vaibhav and Hetmyer can win the match single-handedly. But only time will tell in how many matches they will be able to do this.

The performance of Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja was also not anything special.

Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja have come in the team in place of Sanju. The recent T20 performance of these two also does not inspire much confidence. Last season, when Chennai's batsmen were continuously failing, Jadeja took advantage of the opportunities he got. He scored 301 runs at a strike rate of 135. But Jadeja's performance in bowling has been below average for the last few seasons. He has taken only 18 wickets in 28 matches, that too on a spin-friendly pitch like Chepauk.

At the same time, Sam Curran is coming after a decent performance in the T20 World Cup. He scored 167 runs at a strike rate of 120 and took 6 wickets in 7 innings. But how useful this form will be in the fast-paced cricket of IPL is also a matter of concern.

More than batting, the bigger concern is looking at the team's bowling line-up, especially the pace attack. Joffra Archer, Adam Milne, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Mafaka, Nandre Berger, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen and Sam Curran will lead the pace attack. Of these, Sandeep Sharma is the only bowler who has consistently bowled economically in the IPL.

Archer's economy in the T20 World Cup was around 10. Tushar gave away around 11 runs per over in the last IPL season. The condition of Mafaka and Kuldeep Sen is also similar. Nandre Berger last played IPL in 2024, in that season he took 7 wickets in 6 matches.

However, while the lack of fast bowlers seems like a mountain, Rajasthan's spin department looks quite strong. Jadeja will lead this department and along with him are wicket-taking bowlers Ravi Bishnoi and Kerala's Vignesh Puthur. Bishnoi's last season was disappointing and he could not do much in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, taking only 9 wickets in 7 matches.

Above all is Captain Riyan Parag. Last season, when Sanju was injured, Parag got the chance to captain in 8 matches. Under his captaincy the team won 2 matches and lost 6. His captaincy may have been average, but his performance with the bat was decent. Apart from this, how he will handle the presence of senior players in the team will also be a big challenge. Parag faces many difficulties.