May 30, 2022, 3:37 PM IST
Throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) were one of the best teams, and a big reason for this was their strategy of playing five bowlers. It came at the expense of lacking batting depth. However, the Royals overcame this thanks to some innovation and great batting. Jos Buttler scored the second-most runs in an IPL season ever, while the Royals managed to get the best out of all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin's batting, who they sent as high as No. 3, as a floater of sorts. Shimron Hetmeyer also played some great knocks in the first half when sent earlier than intended, while wicketkeeper-batter cum skipper Sanju Samson was consistently explosive.
Unfortunately for RR, the glaring hole in its batting line-up was exposed most in the IPL 2022 Final. Despite being 59/1 after 8eight overs, the Royals collapsed to a score of 130/9. After taking four wickets, Gujarat had seemingly entered Rajisthan's extended tail. Riyan Parag, a non-bowler in IPL 2022, was again sent in behind Ravichandran Ashwin (who has batted at number 8eight for most of his career). Royals' Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has noticed this and wants to groom Parag into an early middle-order batter instead of a finisher.
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An early middle-order batter would be an instrumental player for this Rroyals' line-up. They used an opener (Devdutt Paddikal) and a career number eight batter (Ravichandran Ashwin) as their number four and five for many games in IPL 2022. The Royals' have shown an inclination to use Shimron Hetmeyer as their finisher. If Parag can successfully be used as a middle-order player, this will allow Hetmeyer to be used where the Royals intend to use him. Watch his complete press conference video above.