IPL 2019: Report Card at the halfway stage of the tournament

#8 Rajasthan Royals: 5/10

A slew of questionable team selections and lacklustre captaincy have put the Royals in a troubled position.

Rajasthan has finally ended their losing streak with a thrilling last over finish against Mumbai but their problems are far from being solved. As far as the positives go, Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane have been brilliant. Steve Smith also has played some good knocks. However, their combined total of 650 runs is pretty much everything Rajasthan has scored in this season.

Ben Stokes has looked clueless at times and the middle order has not displayed even a single convincing performance. In bowling, barring Joffra Archer and the wily Shreyas Gopal with 7 and 8 wickets respectively, no one has been consistent.

Too many shuffles in the team have resulted in the team bearing an unsettled look. The decision to drop the centurion Sanju Samson has visibly interfered with the youngster's confidence. The slot of the second and third seamers are still up for grabs. Unless Stokes gets into the groove, the team does not have a seasoned finisher either. Rahane has been good with his anchoring style of batting but his captaincy decisions have often been mundane. Perhaps, Steve Smith should be given a chance. The Royals batting has also had problems with increasing the scoring rate, an art in which other teams seem to be way better.

Their team is nowhere as bad as the results show. However, the bad start means that they need some special efforts to make it to the playoffs. Unless some remarkable turnaround occurs, Rajasthan has already completed half of their IPL journey of this year.