Rahul Dravid vents frustration with underperforming RR after yet another loss in IPL 2025: ‘Not been good enough’
RR head coach Rahul Dravid reflected on all the departments in which RR have struggled in IPL 2025 after a 10th loss of the season.
Rajasthan Royals slid to an eighth loss this season while chasing, to go with a singular win, as they failed to haul down a Punjab Kings total of 219 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Rajasthan have suffered a couple of truly shocking losses from winning positions, with their only win this far being the result of Vaibhav Suryavanshi exploding vs GT.
Nevertheless, despite the batting struggles this suggested, RR head coach Rahul Dravid was pragmatic about how RR’s concerns are far more holistic, with batting not alone to blame for being ninth in the table with 10 losses.
"There's no point just blaming the batsman. I think with the ball also, to be honest, I didn't think it was a 220 wicket, it was about a 195, 200 wicket, and we gave 20 runs extra,” said Dravid about the loss to PBKS in the press conference. “If we look at the numbers, we have probably not been good enough with the ball. Both at taking wickets and controlling runs. We are chasing 200-220 every game.”
It was a shaken-up bowling unit for RR in the absence of major names like Jofra Archer and Sandeep Sharma, but it has been a standing problem for RR that their batting ends up having to chase down big scores. Only twice have they been asked to chase less than 200 in those nine games, and even in those two matches it was a 180+ total. Life not being made easy for a batting unit, and Dravid tried to evaluate the struggles in the middle order after several games with fantastic starts this season.
‘We just haven’t been able to click…'
"It's been a tough one. We've got close, but we haven't been able to finish the job. It's been one of those kind of seasons where you always feel with the ball that we probably give 15-20 runs extra and then you've got yourself in some really good positions to win the games, but we haven't been able to finish the job and a little bit around that lower, lower-middle order we just haven't been able to click and get the big shots that we need,” admitted Dravid.
RR’s bad streak of chasing began when they were stymied by Mitchell Starc in Delhi, failing to chase down 9 off the last over against DC. History repeated the next game against LSG, as again they failed to score 9 off Avesh Khan's last over, and again a match later, as they lost after needing only 18 off 2 overs against RCB.
"I mean, it's been five games now where the margins have really one or two hits which you need in that phase, which we just haven't been able to do,” said Dravid. “So it's not that we've been losing too many wickets, we're still only five down today, but we just haven't been able to hit those shots.”
RR wrap up a forgettable season on Tuesday, when they travel to Delhi for a neutral-venue match against CSK, their fellow basement-dwellers this season. Pride and the chance to avoid the wooden spoon to fight for.
