Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes Rajasthan Royals need a batter who is more consistent than Riyan Parag in the middle order.
Parag has now had the experience of playing in a couple of seasons in the IPL but he has not been consistent with his batting performances.
The youngster scored 183 runs in 14 innings in Tata IPL 2022 at an average of 16.64 and a strike rate of 138.63. Parag scored one fifty in the tournament but failed to add the finishing touches in a lot of matches.
The right-hander could only manage run-a-ball 15 in the final against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday. Parag has mustered only 522 runs in 47 IPL matches at a sub-par average of 16.84 and a strike rate of 124.88. Ergo, he has failed to come up with consistent performances in the IPL.
Sanjay Manjrekar feels Rajasthan Royals have got most of their pieces in the right place but they need a better finisher than Riyan Parag.
During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar said: “RR has got 80-90 percent of the team right for the next season as well. They need a batter who is a little more consistent than, maybe, a Riyan Parag and can also bowl 2-3 overs. Somebody like a Rahul Tewatia should be a good fit. Otherwise, the side looks okay.”
In fact, Rahul Tewatia was with Rajasthan Royals in the last two seasons but he was not retained by the team. Tewatia did a fine job for Gujarat Titans after he was roped in for a whopping amount of nine crores in the IPL 2022 mega auction.
On the other hand, former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori reckons if you remove Jos Buttler from RR’s team, it will become a very ordinary team. Buttler top-scored in the season with 863 runs in 17 matches.
“If you remove Buttler from that team, are you intimidated by that batting line-up? There’s (Shimron) Hetmyer who can take you down, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal showed at times that he can be aggressive. Devdutt Padikkal and Sanju Samson as well. But there’s no one as good as Buttler, who had an exceptional season.”
It is a famous adage that states that half of the IPL is won or lost at the auction. However, Sanjrekar feels GT was able to prove it wrong.
“When the auction finished, no one gave Mumbai Indians a chance, but the same was true with Gujarat Titans. Not many people thought like – ‘wow, they have done really well with the selection of players and captain, and they have got their formula right’. The lesson from this IPL is, you don’t win an IPL title at the auction.”
