Cricketer-turned-expert Sunil Gavaskar is bemused and expressed his disappointment over Rajasthan Royals (RR) shambolic performance in the ongoing 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season. RR suffered their fifth straight loss after yet again failing to close out a run chase, this time against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 24 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
With only 18 runs needed to win the game, RR batters botched the fag end of the run chase as Josh Hazlewood conceded just one run in the penultimate over. Gavaskar questioned RR's tactics and their approach to the game, especially with Rahul Dravid as the team's head coach.
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The Royals's latest 11-run loss to RCB was their third straight close loss in a run-chase after failing to win two games against DC and LSG.
Sunil Gavaskar questions RR's tactics in run-chases
Dravid, known to remain cool and composed in most situations, was unable to guide his team as RR were consigned to their seventh defeat in the ongoing IPL 2025 season. Gavaskar slammed RR's shortcomings in run chases.
“With Rajasthan Royals, I’m actually talking about the earlier matches where I wasn’t at the ground. I just saw them. So, you're not always able to get the feeling of what’s really happening. But here, I was at the ground, and you could actually see the kind of cricket that was being played. And with someone like Rahul Dravid as the coach, it was quite baffling—it was unthinking cricket," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
"Dravid was always so precise in his thinking, and I would’ve thought that kind of approach would’ve seeped into some of the Rajasthan batters," he remarked.
The former Indian cricketer also questioned RR's approach and thought process during close matches. On all three losses, RR was unable to hit a single boundary or a six in the last over against DC, LSG and RCB.
"Where is the thought process there? You can’t expect inexperienced players to always get it right, but still... it’s just a different kind of cricket,” he added, suggesting that RR’s inability to perform under pressure stems from a deeper flaw in their approach rather than individual failures.
Speaking about RR, they are currently placed eighth on the IPL 2025 points table, winning just two games and losing seven games in the nine matches that they have played.
