RR in IPL 2026: Teen wonder at the wheel

Rajasthan Royals started like a runaway train but hit stumbling blocks, slipping out of the top four. Despite injuries, two timely wins sneaked them into the Playoffs. They knocked Sunrisers Hyderabad out in the Eliminator but fell to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.

Riyan Parag's first full season in charge was a rollercoaster, marking an impressive start to the post-Sanju Samson era. When they won Powerplays with bat and ball, they looked unstoppable. When forced to play catch-up, they seldom recovered — highlighting a team reliant on a few names.

Player of the season: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Jofra Archer enjoyed a 25-wicket season but wasn't close to matching Sooryavanshi's numbers: 776 runs, strike-rate 237.31, 72 sixes (13 clear of Chris Gayle's 2012 tally). Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Cummins, Rabada, Hazlewood were all taken down. He scored a fifty in 16 balls or under four times, carrying RR's batting hopes. The youngest MVP Award winner in league history.

Through nine wins, RR picked up 24 Powerplay wickets at economy 9.57. In seven defeats: 5 wickets at economy 11.52 — underscoring their reliance on Powerplay wickets. Archer took nearly half (14) of the 29 wickets in this phase.

A mini-auction pick that…

Looked a million bucks: Yash Raj Punja

With no professional game under his belt, the lanky leggie from Karnataka led RR's spin attack halfway through the tournament. Signed for INR 30 lakh, he took nine wickets at economy 9.30. His height, control, and composure stood out when RR's campaign threatened to slip.

Didn't work out: Ravi Bishnoi

The man Punja replaced. Bishnoi had nine wickets in four games and briefly held the Purple Cap after being snapped up for INR 7.2 crore. But after a couple of expensive outings, he was dropped for Punja. A bizarre end to a promising season, leaving his future in question.

Best match of the season: Six-run win over GT in Ahmedabad

RR justified batting first with 210. GT, missing an injured Shubman Gill, slumped from 107/1 to 133/5 thanks to Bishnoi's four-fer. Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada threatened to snatch it, but Archer's 19th over (4 runs) and Tushar Deshpande's yorkers sealed a six-run thriller — a rare win with heroes beyond Sooryavanshi and Archer.

On a scale of 1-10: 7.5

When hot, RR looked unbeatable. Parag and Jaiswal had underwhelming seasons but form a solid batting core with Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, and Donovan Ferreira. Questions remain over the non-Archer bowling end, but fixing those holes could make RR a force in 2027.