March 30, 2025: Ahead of Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), RR head coach Rahul Dravid shared his thoughts on the team’s strategy, including the decision to field six genuine batters in their playing eleven. Dravid also discussed the impact of the Impact Player rule on the role of all-rounders, noting how it has diminished their necessity in modern IPL lineups.
After suffering two consecutive losses against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), RR will be looking to bounce back against CSK, who are also coming off a heavy defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after an initial win against Mumbai Indians (MI).
Dravid pointed out that the Impact Player rule allows teams to cover their bowling and batting needs more flexibly, diminishing the traditional requirement for all-rounders. RR, in particular, has opted to field six genuine batters in their playing eleven, including Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, captain Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, and Shimron Hetmyer, with Nitish Rana and Wanindu Hasaranga offering all-round options.
“Not really, to be honest, a lot of it in these situations now with the Impact Player, you actually do get your bowling and batting options with the 12 players. To be honest, if you look at our last game, we were able to play seven bowling options. We actually had seven bowling options in the playing XI, so we covered in that department,” Dravid explained in a post-match interview, as reported by ESPNCricinfo.
The RR coach went on to add that even in terms of batting depth, the team has been able to extend their order, with Hasaranga coming in at number eight and Hetmyer following him at number eight. “With the batting as well, I think we were able to extend our batting using [Wanindu] Hasaranga right up to number eight, Shimron [Hetmyer] came at eight, and then we had Jofra [Archer] bat at No. 9. So, I think there is enough depth,” Dravid noted.
According to Dravid, the role of the all-rounder is now less critical in the current IPL setup. “The role with the Impact Players, I think the role of the all-rounder now is really diminished. Of course, if you have one (a genuine all-rounder), it is great, but I do not think it is as much a necessity as it probably used to be in the past. And that is reflected in the way a lot of teams set up their combinations as well,” he concluded.
With both teams coming off tough defeats, Rajasthan Royals will be hoping to capitalize on their batting depth and strategic flexibility as they prepare to take on CSK in this exciting IPL 2025 encounter.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings:
Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana, Khaleel Ahmed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Mukesh Choudhary, Anshul Kamboj, Nathan Ellis, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi
Rajasthan Royals:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag(c), Nitish Rana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dhruv Jurel(w), Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kwena Maphaka, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Ashok Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.