Ever since the spot-fixing scandal broke out last Thursday, allegedly involving three players of Rajasthan Royals, the team has been garnering a lot of unwanted attention. It was a big jolt for them and the constant public and media glare made it tough to focus on cricket. They needed a secured environment to regroup and prepare themselves ahead of the crucial IPl Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium here on Wednesday.
Probably that’s why they preferred to train at their fortress (Sawai Man Singh stadium) in Jaipur, a place where no team has been able to beat them this season, instead of Delhi, the centre of all the activities surrounding the scandal.
But Delhi is unavoidable. Not because it is the capital but because it is the host of two play-off matches (one of them involves Rajasthan). If Rajasthan want to put the traumatic past few days behind them and keep their dream-run alive, it is important for them to beat their inner demons, and of course, Hyderabad.
Hyderabad will also be looking to extend their unexpected but hard earned stay in the tournament. No one expected them to last this long, especially with the same bunch of players, who turned up for erstwhile franchise Deccan Chargers and finished in the bottom two last year.
They are a team who have redefined the role of bowlers in a format that is tailor-made for batsmen. Without having a single batsmen in the top-20 list of highest run-getters, Hyderabad have managed to earn a spot in the top four - and that too in their first season in the IPl.
“If you have a good bowling unit, you have better chances of winning in the IPl,” Chrisnamachari Srikkanth, Sunrisers’ mentor, said to praise the efforts of his bowlers.
led by world No 1 fast bowler Dale Steyn (18 wickets), Sunrisers bowling unit — Amit Mishra (20 wickets), Thisara Perera (19) and Ishant Sharma (14) — has done remarkably well to keep opposition under control. Three bowlers featuring in the top-10 list — most in this season — reflects on their effectiveness.
If bowling is the criteria for choosing a better team then Rajasthan can’t be called a weaker side. James Faulkner, their lead bowler, has been among the top five throughout the season and with two five-wicket hauls, he sits at the top (26 wickets from 14 matches). Shane Watson, Kevon Cooper, Siddharth Trivedi, and Stuart Binny have done well to provide support from the other end.
But the recent developments will have severe effects on Rajasthan’s combination. The arrest of Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan means that they will have to find another spinner to fill the slot. The problem starts here.
They have four spinners — Brad Hogg, Samuel Badree, Harmeet Singh and Pravin Tambe — in the side now. Harmeet and Tambe haven’t been effective in the limited opportunities they got and the inclusion of Hogg or Samuel Badree will mean either of Brad Hodge or Cooper have to be left out of the playing eleven due to the restriction on foreign players. In either case, the team combination will be disturbed.
However, their real strength lies in batting. With Watson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid and Hodge shouldering the major burden, youngsters like Sanju Samson and Binny have been good in supporting roles.
But more than anything else, the big matches warrant character and temperament. The test ahead is not going to be only about batting or bowling skills but about how well the pressure is handled because there is not going to be another chance.