Rajasthan Royals. (Photo Source: Twitter/Ravi Ashwin)
Rajasthan Royals find themselves in a precarious situation in IPL 2023 points table as they’re ranked fifth having 14 points with seven wins from 14 games. In order to qualify for the playoffs, the Sanju Samson-led side depends on the results of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians’ last fixtures as a loss to both teams will guarantee their spot in the playoffs.
Taking a hilarious dig at his team’s situation, RR spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared a photograph where he could be seen talking to the team. Captioning the photo, Ashwin wrote that Gujarati would be RR’s favourite food while Telugu would be their official language for today.
Sharing the picture on Twitter Ashwin wrote, “When you are trying to tell everyone that Gujarati food should be our favourite and Telugu should become our teams official language for today.😂😂 @rajasthanroyals #HallaBolkonjamnallabol #AavaDe #orangearmy.”
Notably, Rajasthan’s fate depends on the last two fixtures of the IPL league stage on May 21, wherein Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad take on each other while Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans square off. MI, RCB and RR are tied with 14 points and RR have played all of their games. Hence, to qualify for the playoffs, RR would need MI and RCB to lose their respective last games, which will help the Men in Pink qualify on account of a better net run rate.
RCB can still spoil RR’s party despite a loss
Rajasthan (+0.148) have a better net run rate than MI (-0.128) but not RCB (+0.180). Hence, RCB can still spoil their party if they don’t lose by a huge margin.
RR started their campaign in emphatic fashion as they won four out of the first five matches. However, they could only win one out of their next six matches and got their campaign astray. They ended the league stage with a win against Punjab Kings by four wickets as they chased down the target of 189 in 19.4 overs courtesy of brilliant knocks from Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 off 36), Devdutt Padikkal (51 off 30), and Shimron Hetmyer (46 off 28).