Published: Apr 07, 2015, 02:01 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 07, 2015, 02:01 PM (IST)
Over the years, Rajasthan Royals (RR) have come to be defined by the virtues of team-work and hard-work. In turn they have reaped the rewards in form of consistency. Rishad D’Souza digs into RR’s numbers ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015.
Rajasthan Royals have been a consistent side in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Their style of play revolves on the primary principle of team-work, which becomes evident when you take a look at the top 10 IPL run-scorers and wicket-takers. In both lists, there is not even one mention of a player who has played for the Royals. Rajasthan Royals needs to get off good start in IPL 2015: Shane Watson
Top 10 wicket-takers in IPL:
| Players | Teams | M | I | O | R | W |
| Lasith Malinga | MI | 83 | 83 | 321.3 | 2102 | 119 |
| Amit Mishra | DC, DD, SRH | 86 | 86 | 314.5 | 2264 | 102 |
| Piyush Chawla | KXIP, KKR | 98 | 98 | 336.5 | 2540 | 98 |
| Harbhajan Singh | MI | 96 | 94 | 339.3 | 2281 | 92 |
| Vinay Kumar | KTK, KKR, RCB | 86 | 85 | 294.1 | 2438 | 91 |
| Dale Steyn | DC, RCB, SRH | 83 | 83 | 322 | 2119 | 89 |
| Pragyan Ojha | DC, MI | 91 | 89 | 314.3 | 2309 | 89 |
| RP Singh | DC, KTK, MI, RCB | 78 | 78 | 283.5 | 2227 | 87 |
| Ravi Ashwin | CSK | 83 | 81 | 298.4 | 1952 | 80 |
| Albie Morkel | CSK, RCB | 85 | 81 | 270.1 | 2184 | 80 |
Top 10 run-scorers in IPL:
| Players | Teams | M | I | R | Ave | 6s |
| Suresh Raina | CSK | 115 | 111 | 3325 | 35.75 | 134 |
| Rohit Sharma | DC, MI | 112 | 108 | 2903 | 32.25 | 126 |
| Gautam Gambhir | DD, KKR | 104 | 103 | 2806 | 30.17 | 41 |
| Chris Gayle | KKR, RCB | 68 | 67 | 2708 | 47.5 | 192 |
| Virat Kohli | RCB | 107 | 99 | 2632 | 30.96 | 87 |
| Robin Uthappa | KKR, MI, PWI, RCB | 107 | 102 | 2632 | 29.9 | 89 |
| Virender Sehwag | DD, KXIP | 96 | 96 | 2629 | 28.89 | 103 |
| MS Dhoni | CSK | 112 | 99 | 2614 | 40.84 | 109 |
| Jacques Kallis | KKR, RCB | 98 | 96 | 2427 | 28.55 | 44 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | MI | 78 | 78 | 2334 | 34.83 | 29 |
The fact that Rajasthan Royals have done decently without a single player featuring in the top 10s goes to indicate that the team has relied on evenly distributed contributions from all players, rather than focusing their energies on any single player. Let us now take a look at the best performers for the Rajasthan Royals team. IPL 2015: Rajasthan Royals gear up to repeat 2008 history with another royal show
Most runs for Rajasthan Royals:
| Players | M | R | HS | SR | 100s | 50s |
| Shane Watson | 74 | 2127 | 101 | 141.04 | 1 | 13 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 63 | 1795 | 103* | 117.93 | 1 | 15 |
| Rahul Dravid | 52 | 1324 | 66 | 108.88 | 0 | 7 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 43 | 1011 | 100 | 161.24 | 1 | 6 |
| Brad Hodge | 38 | 748 | 54* | 143.84 | 0 | 2 |
| Sanju Samson | 30 | 737 | 74 | 122.42 | 0 | 6 |
| Graeme Smith | 25 | 697 | 91 | 112.96 | 0 | 4 |
| Stuart Binny | 50 | 624 | 48* | 133.61 | 0 | 0 |
| Naman Ojha | 23 | 555 | 94* | 127.88 | 0 | 4 |
| Swapnil Asnodkar | 21 | 464 | 60 | 122.42 | 0 | 2 |
Most wickets for Rajasthan Royals:
| Players | M | O | W | Eco | 4WI | 5WI |
| Siddharth Trivedi | 76 | 251 | 65 | 7.58 | 1 | 0 |
| Shane Watson | 74 | 217.5 | 61 | 7.32 | 0 | 0 |
| Shane Warne | 56 | 203 | 58 | 7.24 | 1 | 0 |
| James Faulkner | 35 | 130.1 | 45 | 7.87 | 0 | 2 |
| Kevon Cooper | 31 | 119 | 39 | 8.05 | 2 | 0 |
| Munaf Patel | 31 | 105.5 | 33 | 7.55 | 0 | 0 |
| Pravin Tambe | 21 | 79 | 28 | 6.6 | 2 | 0 |
| Amit Singh | 24 | 80.5 | 28 | 7.73 | 1 | 0 |
| Sohail Tanvir | 12 | 45.1 | 25 | 6.33 | 1 | 1 |
| Shaun Tait | 21 | 78.5 | 23 | 8.11 | 0 | 0 |
Shane Watson has been a major draw for Rajasthan Royals both with the bat and the ball. Not only has he scored most number of runs but even boasts a magnificent strike rate. In the bowling department he has been rich in wickets but could work on the economy bit. Rajasthan Royals at IPL Player Auction 2015: Royals continue to remain wise
With the presence of players such as Steven Smith, Ajinkya Rahane and a quality bowler in form of Tim Southee, Rajasthan Royals could expect to soon have different players burst in the top 10 lists. Let’s now take a look at some fielding stats from the Rajasthan Royals:
| Players | M | I | Ct |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 63 | 63 | 28 |
| Shane Watson | 74 | 74 | 21 |
| Brad Hodge | 38 | 38 | 16 |
| Shane Warne | 56 | 56 | 16 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 43 | 43 | 14 |
With the advent of T20 cricket, the importance of fielding can’t by overstated. The Rajasthan Royals’ side have some great fielders. Rahane in particular happens to be a world class fielder.
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)
