'Baffling... unthinking cricket': Sunil Gavaskar minces no words on Rajasthan Royals

TOI Sports Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Apr 25, 2025, 09:42 IST

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Rajasthan Royals are facing a tough time in the IPL, having lost five consecutive matches, including a recent defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his disappointment with RR's approach, especially considering Rahul Dravid's presence as coach. The team struggles with Sanju Samson's injury and inconsistent performances from key players, impacting their chances of making the playoffs.

'Baffling... unthinking cricket': Sunil Gavaskar minces no words on Rajasthan Royals

Sunil Gavaskar is not happy with Rajasthan Royals' performance in IPL 2025 (Image credit: X)

New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals are struggling in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League as they have lost five matches on the trot. The latest defeat came against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday where they bottled another run-chase. Missing regular captain Sanju Samson due to injury, Royals are now struggling with just four points from nine games and will find it very difficult to make the playoffs.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is not pleased with the cricket played by RR in the tournament so far, and he found the batters approach "quite baffling" .

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“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. 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," Gavaskar said in a chat with the broadcaster after the match.

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"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.
RR have lost their last three games in the final over, and they were in a position to win all of them. Injury to Samson hasn't helped their cause but other batters like Riyan Parag, Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer have failed to have a consistent impact with the bat. The bowling department too seems heavily dependent on Jofra Archer and they are clearly missing spin twins R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
RR still have five games left and they would look to iron out the flaws and get some wins under their belt.

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