RR's batting is slightly vulnerable, they are too dependent on Buttler and Samson: Wasim Jaffer

The Rajasthan Royals have begun their IPL 2022 campaign well with three wins in four appearances and are at the top of the points table. They went against Gujarat Titans in Match 24 of the tournament. The former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer discussed RR’s form and shared his views on Ashwin’s decision of retiring out in their last game against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Jaffer hailed the performance of the spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in the last game and said they have proved to be quite valuable in the middle overs. He went on to add that the RR attack has versatility due to the presence of fast bowlers Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult, who have done well this season.

“They have two quality spinners like Chahal and Ashwin, who can be valuable in the middle overs. In the last fixture against LSG, although Ashwin couldn’t take a wicket, but had an economy of only five, while Chahal took four wickets. Adding to that, they have two out-and-out fast bowlers in the form of Prasidh and Boult, so they have a versatile bowling attack,” said Jaffer on Sky247.net presents ‘Not Just Cricket Show’ on CricTracker.

Jaffer reckoned that RR are too dependent on the likes of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Shimron Hetmyer, who have contributed the most in the ongoing season. He feels Hetmyer is one of the best finishers in the T20 format, but is not rated highly.

“They are too dependent on the performance of Buttler, Samson, and Hetmyer. From my point of view, Hetmyer is one of the best finishers and is under-rated. Padikkal has looked good but hasn’t scored many runs. They have not shown enough faith in Riyan Parag, like you see in the last match, 10 overs were remaining, but they have sent Ashwin to bat. Their batting is a little vulnerable,” Jaffer added.

We would not have seen Tewatia’s knock in 2020 had he retired out: Wasim Jaffer

Giving his opinion on retiring out, Jaffer said that the decision is logical only when there are only two-three overs left in the innings. He recalled the innings of Rahul Tewatia in IPL 2020, where he initially was quite slow in his approach, but helped RR to secure a victory against Kin by slamming five sixes of Sheldon Cottrell, and termed it as a career-defining innings for him.

“It’s a logical step if only two-three overs are left in the innings. But if you have 9-10 overs left, if I tell you an incident of Tewatia, where he was batting on 8 off 19 and the RR team was wanting him to get dismissed, as he was playing out too many dot balls. But soon the momentum changed after Cottrell’s over, and it turned out to be a career-making innings for him. Had you gone for that option at that stage, maybe you would have not witnessed that type of innings,” Jaffer added.