As the 2013 T20 season has rolled on, Rajasthan Royals have quietly been ticking off the boxes. During IPL-6 earlier this year, they came away with an unbeaten home run before doing well enough to finish in the top three and qualify for the Champions League.
As the 2013 T20 season has rolled on, Rajasthan Royals have quietly been ticking off the boxes. During IPL-6 earlier this year, they came away with an unbeaten home run before doing well enough to finish in the top three and qualify for the Champions League. Come the autumn — fittingly also the last season of their captain’s cricketing career — the Jaipur-based franchise, minus the stars and roiled by contoversy have gone one better, and now stand on the threshold of CLT20 glory. On Friday here, they smothere the strongest batting lineup in the competiton with some clever unorthodox tactics, which have been their hallmark this year. And as so often has been the case, it was a match-deciding performance from yet another unheralded quarter that did Chennai Super Kings in. Earlier in the competition, the Royals had mugged another powerful T20 outfit in the Mumbai Indians. Rahul Dravid, now effectively one match away from retirement, and coach Paddy Upton have been the fulcrum of this fruitful run, that has taken their team through 13 games unbeaten. And speaking earlier in the season, the duo provided a few glimpses into what keeps this unit ticking over. “I think one of the important things in our strategy is being all inclusive. we really do invite not only the players to contribute to winning on the field, but we also invite their contribution off the field,” said Upton recently. “We have needed to be clever, to be flexible. Everybody understands that. So what happens on the field is , it is up to Rahul to call the move but he has ten other people who are all looking, who are thinking, who are all part of the strategy, divising strategy within the team so that’s is probably what makes us slightly different to the other teams.” Where the Royals have really scored is the way they have utilised available resources, and their resilience. Said Dravid, “I think we have a great environment that allows the youngsters to feel free and happy. An environment that allows the senior or more experienced players to pass on all their experiences. As a youngster sometimes it can be really intimidating if you are in a dressing room or environment with people like Watson and Hodge and people like that. “It is this easy passing of information which helps. it gives them a lot of freedom as well, which is one of the things that you can sense here that people feel confident , that they will not be blamed, they will not be picked upon if things go wrong. It is the more experienced, the senior players who take the responsibility but it also gives the younger players the confidence that we know and we have the belief that they are good enough at this level which they are and the reality is they are very good.” With one final competitive cricket match to go, what would Dravid take away with him “It’s a really great way to finish playing — with a group of people that you enjoy playing with and have some good results. It’s been great fun.” That is as may be, the fun factor. But there surely is more to their incredible journey than fun and freedom of expression. Noted Dravid: “We don’t change our routines just because we have won or lost a game we try and maintain that balance. If we win, that’s great. If we lose we just go on and try and learn from our mistakes . but you got to keep improving all the time. “We encourage all our players is that you have to always keep improving because everyone around you is improving as well. You have to keep improving and keep getting better.” Upton has his take as well. “Humility is important. We are humble in our victory, if we lose we are still humble in that we don’t get too upset. We pride ourselves in being professional and we stay humble in those process. We don’t take shortcuts because we are doing well. We just have a culture that we don’t cut corners.”
