Rajasthan Royals- a team to beat

The Rajasthan based franchise has turned their fortunes entirely as in the previous three seasons of the tournament; they were one of the first teams to get eliminated. 

Rajasthan Royals are in top form this season as the team is full of match-winners both in the bowling and batting departments. It all started from the mega auction of this year, where the franchise made some clinical decisions and bought players at reasonable prices.

What exactly happened in the auction?

The Rajasthan Royals got off to a strong start in the auction, purchasing two players from the marquee list, Ravichandran Ashwin and Trent Boult. With his immense experience, Ashwin was a steal for INR 5 crore, while Boult is fantastic with the new ball and at the end of innings. They also hired Shimron Hetmyer, who can serve as a finisher, while Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson take care of the top order.

Rajasthan has struggled to locate a solid Indian contingent over the years, and they have done their study well in advance of the auction. With the addition of pacers Navdeep Saini and Prasidh Krishna, the Indian contingent has become more robust for the franchise. Yuzvendra Chahal, a match-winner with the ball, which forms a superb spin assault alongside Ashwin, was signed by the club.

The players retained by them are all performing for the team and giving a clinical performance in every game. This proves that the decision taken by the franchise was logical and not emotional, as they let go of the likes of Jofra Archer so that they could buy other players who are available to play this season.

The team has many records of the season to their name, even though we are just halfway through the tournament; a glimpse of how good they are this season:

The highest target posted and lowest total defended by a team

Rajasthan Royals scored the highest total in the IPL 2022, with the help of Jos Buttler's magnificent century. Rajasthan Royals crushed the Delhi Capitals, achieving the highest total of 222 runs in 20 overs.

The Royals not only rode the wave, but they also demonstrated their ability to recover from adversity. They were in trouble against RCB, but Riyan Parag's late charge resulted in a total of 144. The total didn't look much challenging, but their bowlers were absolutely clinical in destroying their strong batting line-up. This became the lowest score of IPL 2022 total defended, surpassing Gujarat's 156 against Kolkata.

Jos Buttler: One-man, multiple feats

Jos Buttler is currently dominating the list of most runs scored as he is miles above other players in the race. 

Most runs (Orange cap holder): Jos Buttler has accumulated 499 runs in 8 innings and is in strong contention to win the orange cap until he doesn't perform the worst possible as the second-best on the list is KL Rahul with 368 runs. The gap between them is quite big, and it is expected that Jos will end with the cap.

The highest score in an inning: Apart from being the season's leading run-scorer, the batter is also the highest run-scorer in an inning. He scored mammoth 116 runs against Delhi Capitals at the strike rate of 178.46 in their previous fixture on 22nd April 2022.   

Most boundaries: Jos, the boss, is scoring at a strike rate of 160 this season which eventually has made him top the list of most boundaries too. He has scored 42 fours, and 32 sixes in eight matches played.

Most centuries: The England opener is also crowning the list of most centuries this season as he has three centuries already, the second-best ever in the history of IPL. 

Bowlers are no less than the team's star batter.

Most Wickets (Purple cap holder): Yuzvendra Chahal is overlooking the list of most wickets as he is miles ahead of other bowlers in the contest. 

Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian star spinner, is showing what he's capable of as he has scalped 18 wickets in just eight matches, including a five-wicket haul and a hat trick. Chahal is proving very effective for the franchise, bowling with an economy of 7.1 which means he's not leaking runs too.

Most dot balls: Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna is ruling the list of most dots by any bowler in the league. Of the 32 overs bowled by the bowler in 8 innings, he has bowled 97 balls as the dot balls. This makes it nearly 16.1 per cent overs as dots, and it is 50 per cent of the overs bowled by the pacer. This is a tremendous feat to achieve in a short format league. 

This year has clearly been that of Rajasthan Royals as they are full of match-winners, and they are topping the list of every feat in the league, leaving no stone unturned. If things keep going the way they are, it won't be long before they are declared the champions of IPL 2022.