Another disappointing performance by Rajasthan Royals exposes the moneyball theory

“Finally, (Rajasthan) Royals Got nine of his first-choice XI, and spent 90 percent of his money on these key players, with little left for bench strength, as opposed to about 65 percent in the past. With (Ben) Stokes, (Jos) Butler and (Jofra) Archer in his team, he will be particularly interesting to the English audience. Whether he bought wisely, only time will tell,” former England captain Michael Atherton wrote in the UK’s The Times in the first week of February 2018. IPL auction. Royal’s campaign that year ended in the Eliminator, with Butler (548 runs) and Archer (15 wickets) making stand-out performances with the bat and ball respectively and the franchise could take comfort from the fact that they made the least amount of play. Placed-off which is of course each team’s first goal.

The captains were changed, the coaches were changed, yet the result remained the same.

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However, since the 2018 season, it has been going downhill for the franchise as they finished 7th and 8th over the next two years, and barely managed to avoid a wooden spoon this year. As Atherton thought only time would tell, it is clear that a lot has been done not only in the past few years but in IPL history, from Royal’s inaugural win in 2008, which looks like the last time in the pan. in a flash. From 2009 to 2012, the Royals alternated between 6th and 7th place respectively. From 2013 to 2015, he made it to the play-offs twice and missed it at least with 5th place in 2014. It was probably the best stage ever (window of three years at least) even though they didn’t even make it to the final even once. In 2016 and 2017 the team was banned for two years following the 2014 spot-fixing scandal in which three of their players were arrested, and following investigations, the franchise for their involvement in illegal betting and match-fixing. was suspended for two years. .

Number one tells the story of the royal struggle

Overall, the Royals have lost more matches (86) than won (84) in 175 matches played since 2008. They were exceptionally lucky to beat Chennai Super Kings by a narrow margin of three wickets in a tense match. The genius of Yusuf Pathan (3 for 22 in four overs and 56 off 39 balls when he came out to bat when he was dismissed for 42 runs chasing 164 runs) in the 2008 IPL final. The royals should always be grateful to Baroda. The rounder who has unknowingly hid his failure single-handedly for over a decade.

Moneyball theory flawed and highly exaggerated

Luck may be to blame for a season or two, or some unfortunate injuries to key players during crucial stages of the tournament, but not if the team managed to reach the playoffs barely three times after winning the title in 2008. , then it is probably abundantly clear that the moneyball theory was in fact flawed and highly exaggerated. Even though some of the best and most intelligent voices of international cricketers are still looking at the team through that left field prism. “At RR, we were literally a moneyball team. We had to compete with top teams with 40-60 per cent budget. In such an environment, former Royals captain and mentor Rahul Dravid said on the Insights vs Insights panel discussion in August 2020 It’s not easy, where everyone has a lot of data and knowledge.”

Perhaps, Dravid and even some of the sport’s greatest observers may not have noticed that even Michael Lewis (the author of Moneyball) has acknowledged that we exaggerate the infallibility of the mind. In his book “The Undoing Project”, Lewis says, “The mind makes mistakes like the ears make mistakes or the eyes…” and perhaps it is time to acknowledge that the moneyball theory was not an accurate assessment of Rajasthan’s title win. Odds Royals’ much-anticipated strategy of budget-conscious buying is also a thing of the past now as they have made some of the biggest buys in the recent seasons (Stokes for Rs 12.5 crore and Jaydev Unadkat for Rs 11.5 crore and Chris Morris for Rs 16.25 crore. IPL History) The highest bid ever for any player in the U.S. as the Royals have outperformed several franchises to keep him in their place).

making the same mistakes over and over again

It may be time to undo those theories as we have found that Rajasthan keeps on making the same mistakes based on flawed logic. How can you explain the appointment of former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara as Director of Cricket despite his poor record as captain with Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad) and Punjab? that Sanga has little or no coaching experience and the franchise departed from his formidable reputation as a player (which of course most teams do, as with the appointment of Jacques Kallis with Kolkata Knight Riders or Royal Challengers Bangalore). Simon Katich) and no one has yet explained the sacking of Australian Andrew McDonald, who has built his reputation as an excellent T20 coach.

Underestimating the role of a good captain

Over the past few seasons, the choice of Royals for the captaincy role has been astounding which plays such a vital role in the continued dominance of any team (see the examples of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir in the IPL). Sanju Samson’s indifferent body language during the India leg earlier this season did not impress Virender Sehwag. “His teammates don’t seem very happy with him being the captain. But it is a fact that if a player stays on his own and suddenly he is made the captain, then he takes time to talk to the players, mingle with them. So I fell for Sanju Samson is proving difficult,” Sehwag said in a video on Cricbuzz. In 2018 and 2019, the Royals gambled on the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane, who has always found it difficult to adjust to the slam-bang nature of white-ball cricket, especially the T20 format. The franchise also had a tie-up with Australian Steven Smith, who, like Rahane, was not an automatic selection in any of the T20 playing XIs. The Royals might have forgotten that more than any theory, a charismatic captain is always the biggest difference in making a team champion in any format of the game as they themselves discovered it in 2008 when Shane Warne was at the helm of affairs. From Dravid (who took over for two years) to Shane Watson (who captained for a brief period) to Steven Smith, who was in charge since 2014 (being banned for involvement in a ball-tampering incident in 2018). save time) and the subsequent experiment of Rahane and Samson would have told the owners that it is time to start afresh with a new vision and new philosophy from 2022 as most of the teams are in for a big change due to the grand auction. which is not far away.

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