Rajasthan Royals finished third in the Indian Premier League 2024 season after their loss in the Qualifier 2 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Chennai. The Royals won nine matches out of 16 this year, as the team made its second playoffs in the last three editions.
There have been many clinical performances from the Royals’ players throughout the IPL 2024 campaign, which saw them winning eight of their first nine matches this year. Here is a look at some of the best individual displays for the Royals in IPL 2024.
Jos Buttler’s 107* off 60 balls vs KKR
Rajasthan Royals have never lost a match when Jos Buttler has scored a century for them. The story repeated for a seventh time at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the Royals’ clash against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Buttler put on a chasing masterclass as he scored his second hundred of IPL 2024, the only player to score multiple centuries this year, to power the Royals to a two-wicket win off the last ball of the innings.
Chasing 224, the Englishman was quick off the blocks scoring 20 off 12 balls as the Royals reached 76/2 at the end of powerplay. But soon, Buttler had to recalibrate as the Royals lost four wickets in the space of 28 balls during the middle overs.
As a result, Buttler could manage only 22 runs in the next 22 balls as the required rate mounted to 16 in the last six overs. With Rovman Powell in the middle, Buttler shifted gears effortlessly with four boundaries in the 15th over and both added 57 runs in just 27 balls.
Buttler scored his final 65 runs off just 26 balls and put together an unbroken 38, along with Avesh Khan, for a record ninth-wicket partnership for the Royals to fashion a stunning turnaround that left the home fans silent.
Buttler brought up his century in the final over with a six and remained unbeaten on 107 to help the Royals equal their highest successful run-chase in the IPL. The England skipper’s knock was laden with nine fours and six sixes and won him the Player of the Match.
Buttler finished the IPL 2024 campaign with 359 runs from 11 matches before leaving for England to join the team ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 104* off 60 balls vs MI
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his second century in the IPL, both coming against Mumbai Indians, to power the Royals to a double over the five-time champions. After Sandeep Sharma’s exploits with the ball, Jaiswal took centre stage with his majestic knock
Chasing 180, the left-handed opener struck a six and two boundaries of pacer Gerald Coetzee in the fourth over and never looked back after that. Jaiswal added 74 runs for the opening wicket with Buttler inside eight overs to set the pace.
Jaiswal was then joined by captain Sanju Samson and both of them put the bowlers to the sword in their unbroken 109-run association. The southpaw reached fifty in 31 balls and was severe against all bowlers including Jasprit Bumrah.
The 22-year-old reached his hundred in just 59 balls before smashing a four to end proceedings with a nine-wicket win over MI, with eight balls to spare.
In IPL 2024, Jaiswal tallied 435 runs from 15 outings to the crease at an impressive strike rate of 155.91.
Sandeep Sharma’s 5/18 vs MI
Sandeep Sharma picked up his first five-wicket haul of his T20 career to lay the foundation for the Royals’ nine-wicket win, one of the most convincing victories in IPL 2024. Sandeep is only the fourth Royals bowler to pick up a fifer after Sohail Tanvir, James Faulkner and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Partnering Trent Boult with the new ball, Sandeep struck twice in consecutive overs, including top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav, to reduce Mumbai Indians to 20/3 in the fourth over. But, MI recovered after the initial blow as they reached 170/5 with two overs left.
But Sandeep returned to torment the MI batters as he picked up two wickets in the first two balls of the final over, along with MI’s top-scorer Tilak Varma, to snuff out any hopes of a 200-plus total.
Player of the Match Sandeep dismissed big-hitting Tim David in the penultimate ball to complete his five-wicket haul as he ended with impressive figures of 5/18 in four overs, the third-best by any Royals bowler to date.
Chasing 180, the Royals romped home with eight balls to spare. This was an all-round performance from the Royals as it included a century from Jaiswal and a five-wicket haul from Sandeep in the same game.
Sandeep had a good outing in the IPL this year, as he finished with 13 wickets from 10 innings, at a stunning economy rate of 8.18.
Trent Boult’s 3/22 vs MI
Trent Boult rocked the MI top order at the Wankhede Stadium to finish with a match-winning spell of 3/22, as the Royals thrashed the home side by six wickets. It was a dream start for the Royals as Boult struck a double blow in the very first over after electing to bowl.
Boult dismissed the experienced Rohit Sharma first with a delivery that angled away and captain Sanju Samson completed a brilliant catch. Then Boult swung one in to catch the new batter off-guard and trapped him in front of the wicket.
Soon MI slid to 14/3 in the third over as the left-arm pacer got his third wicket sending back Dewald Brevis making it three first-ball ducks for MI. Player of the Match Boult finished his four-over spell picking up 3/22, which included 14 dot balls, to restrict MI to 125/9.
Chahal also chipped in with three wickets as the Royals put in their best bowling performance in IPL 2024 with Riyan Parag anchoring the chase with an unbeaten half-century.
Boult ended his IPL 2024 campaign with 16 wickets from 15 innings, including 12 dismissals in the powerplay.
Rovman Powell’s 4 catches vs RCB
Rovman Powell had a field day in the Royals’ four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2024 Eliminator contest. The Jamaican pouched four catches, a record for any fielder in an IPL playoffs match, to help the Royals restrict RCB to 172/8.
Powell’s first effort was his best as he dived forward running in from deep mid-wicket to grab a full-blooded pull shot from RCB captain Faf du Plessis, to complete a stunning effort. It was a turning point in the game, as Faf was starting to launch his big hits and had already added 37 with fellow opener Virat Kohli.
Powell then judged a skier to perfection to give Ravichandran Ashwin his first wicket of the match in the form of Cameron Green. He then went on to take two more catches in the deep to round off the Royals’ brilliant display on the field that night.
Powell also chipped in with the bat, playing an unbeaten cameo of 16 from eight balls to see the Royals through to Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024.
