Rajasthan Royals slipped to a third straight defeat at their primary home ground on Saturday night, going down to Gujarat Titans after conceding 227 for 4. The loss, their fourth in five matches, leaves them clinging to fifth on the IPL table and wondering why Sawai Mansingh Stadium suddenly feels anything but homely.
They are perfect in Guwahati this season – three played, three won – yet three outings in Jaipur have ended in three fairly one-sided defeats. Deep Dasgupta, speaking on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut, kept it simple: “I think they haven’t really played good cricket there [in Jaipur], and I think that’s the only reason. I can’t think of anything else.” He pointed to a line-up that remains “very top-heavy” and to a middle order still searching for consistency: “Dhruv Jurel has had an up-and-down kind of a season. So yeah, it’s just that you’ve got to play good cricket, and unfortunately, they haven’t at home.”
Saturday’s contest was almost doomed from the opening over. Jofra Archer, after an eight-day break, required 11 deliveries to complete it – two no-balls, seven wides and 18 runs in total. Titans never really looked back. Mitchell McClenaghan could only wince: “Oh, I got tired just watching it [that over]. Some endurance to get through that.” Half the runs, he noted, “were off the extras”, the rest off the bat. “He just didn’t have the radar right … it just wasn’t on the mark. It didn’t look crisp.”
Archer’s form has mirrored the Royals’ fortunes. Between 7 April and 1 May the fast bowler claimed at least one wicket in eight straight games, generating bounce and late movement. Since returning to Jaipur he has 1 for 92 across two outings. Pitches in the Pink City tend to stay low, something McClenaghan feels is taking the sting out of Archer’s opening bursts. “There’s not that lift and bounce [on offer] that there was at their previous home ground where Jofra was ripping people’s heads off,” he said. “I think Jofra was getting some lateral movement as well, previous to this. It’s not conducive for genuine swing or lateral movement.”
Conceding 200-plus has become a worrying habit. Royals have leaked 214, 209, 236 and now 227 in consecutive matches – only one of those ended in victory, and that thanks to a blistering chase in Chennai. Bowling coach Shane Bond, usually measured, sounded exasperated: “We just haven’t played well enough in conditions that we know. We’ve been outplayed by our opposition.”
Bond highlighted two recurring problems: “I look at bowlers, they just have to be better, right? You’ve got to think a bit outside the box. There’s two things: decision-making and execution. I think tonight, you would have probably noticed that execution just wasn’t consistent enough for long enough. And I think if you look across the board in the IPL, that’s just been the case.”
Tactically, Royals did try something different. Yuzvendra Chahal, their lead spinner, operated in two short spells and bowled out by the 15th over; Trent Boult, usually deployed up front, was held back until the sixth. None of it stemmed the flow. Titans skipper Shubman Gill’s 63 from 38 and David Miller’s late 43* from 20 ensured a target well beyond par.
Batting-wise, Royals remain reliant on the top three. Jos Buttler’s early dismissal exposed a middle order that never quite caught up with the rate. Sanju Samson fought for 48, while Riyan Parag’s cameo (29 off 17) was too little, too late.
The side now has just over 48 hours to regroup before meeting Sunrisers Hyderabad, again in Jaipur. That short turnaround, Bond suggested, could be a blessing. “Sometimes you need to get straight back on the park,” he told the assembled press, “put a tough night behind you, and move on.”
Whether a change in surface preparation, bowling combinations or simply calmer execution is required, Royals know the margin for error has narrowed. Three of their final five games are at the venue that has suddenly become a burden. Fix that, and play-off hopes stay intact; ignore it, and a promising campaign may fizzle out quickly.
