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IPL 2022 playoffs: Top moments from RR's road to knockouts

IPL 2022 mega auction came with the promise of a change of fortune for some of the perennial strugglers of the tournament. The bidding war did claim two major casualties in Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, who never recovered from the chaos it caused to their once-settled squad.

However, Rajasthan Royals are not complaining. After retaining key star Jos Buttler, the side spent big on two Indian spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal and reaped the benefit of such decisions throughout the league phases of the cash-rich tournament.

Rajasthan Royals team. Image: Sportzpics

The result, they now sit second on the points table and have two shots at reaching the IPL final. Not bad for a side that finished in the bottom-two spots for the last three seasons.

The task, however, was easier said than done as there were several key moments that defined RR's success and we take a look at the top five such moments:

Jos Buttler's century vs Mumbai Indians

Jos Buttler has been in his prime form this season with 629 runs in 14 games so far, which included three towering centuries. His best knocks of three still remain arguable. The first one against Mumbai Indians set the tone early for RR, who now had the quality in their bowling department to back the target put on by Buttler and Co. The match also gave glimpses of the form that the English batter brought to the IPL. Despite losing opening partner Yashashvi Jaiswal followed by Devdutt Paddikal in quick succession, the fall of wickets had no bearing on Buttler, who was playing his 300th T20 match. Buttler scored a 65-ball 100 that included 11 fours and five sixes, along with a 101m-long six. The highlight of the innings was taking 26 runs off an over bowled by Basil Thampi.

Yuzvendra Chahal hat-trick vs KKR

Yuzvendra Chahal did the star turn for RR this season with the ball as he brought his wicket-taking form along with him from Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 31-year-old spinner has been keeping the purple flag as long as one could remember with 26 wickets in 14 games and has always delivered when RR needed him too. The moment that stood out was his fifer against KKR.

In match 30 (played on 18 April), Chahal also became the first bowler in this season to grab a hat-trick as his sensational over tilted the match decisively in Rajasthan Royals favour against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a real humdinger at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

The leggie picked up 4 wickets in the over and this included his maiden hat-trick in the IPL. He finished with figures of 5/40 as KKR fell agonisingly short of the target of 218 runs by 7 runs.

In this sensational over, Chahal sent back Venkatesh Iyer off the first ball. He then trapped KKR captain Shreyas Iyer (85) later in the over. Shivam Mavi walked in and tried to smash the ball over long on, but holed out and then Chahal bowled the perfect leg-break to get the edge of Pat Cummins to complete his first hat-trick.

This was a stunning comeback from Chahal as he returned after conceding 17 runs in his first over as KKR were right on track to chase down the 218-run target.

R Ashwin historically retired himself out for big-hitters

R Ashwin has been often touted as a street-smart cricketer with great presence of mind and have often led to some controversies on the field, which are well documented.

And this IPL, it was his selfless decision to retire himself out that left the cricket world in split.

The incident happened during the match 20 (11 April) when Ashwin brought his 23-ball knock to an end in 18.2 overs of the Royals innings against Lucknow Super Giants to allow Riyan Parag join the big-hitting Shimron Hetmyer.

The left-handed Hetmyer smashed an unbeaten 59 off 36 deliveries including six sixes and Parag also got one hit over the fence in his four-ball stay as Royals finished on 165-6.

West Indies' cricketer-turned-commentator Ian Bishop made an important point on the decision saying it may change the way the game is conceived in the modern era.

Those unaware of the rules, batters are allowed to retire at any time of the innings when the ball is dead after informing the umpires, according to cricket rules. Once retired out, a batter cannot come back to take the crease, unlike retired hurt, where a batter can return to finish off his/her innings.

R Ashwin bringing all-round skills to T20 format

As mentioned earlier, the second spot in the points table didn't come easy for the RR. A defeat or two late in the tournament could have changed their fortune for the worse. In fact things looked rough for the pink-clad outfit late in the season with Buttler losing his mojo. This forced Sanju Samson-led side to rethink its plans. The idea came out was promoting R Ashwin up the order.

The instance took place in a vital game against Delhi Capitals on 11 May, when Rajasthan Royals experimented with the batting line-up after R Ashwin was sent up at number three. The Royals had lost an early wicket after Jos Buttler was sent back to the dugout by Chetan Sakariya for 7 off 11.

Ashwin then walked out in the middle and joined Yashasvi Jaiswal. The two batters tried to steady the ship and stitched a stand of 43 runs for the second wicket before Jaiswal was caught by Lalit Yadav off Mitchell Marsh for 19 that came in 19 deliveries.

But Ashwin showed his class with the bat and held the fort at one end. He, along with Devdutt Padikkal, put up a good show as the two scored 53 runs for the third wicket. While Ashwin batted in a steady manner, the right-hander didn't shy away from putting away the bad deliveries to the boundary.

He notched up 50 off 38, a knock that included 4 fours and a couple of maximums before getting out to Marsh after being caught by David Warner. This is Ashwin's first fifty in T20 cricket.

And it wasn't a one-off knock from the Test centurion as he played another 23-ball 40* knock at no. 5 to guide Rajasthan to a crucial five-wicket win with two balls to spare.

Trent Boult bowls ball of the year to KL Rahul

Trent Boult's efforts for RR are somewhat overshadowed by the stellar show of Chahal with the ball but in no way the New Zealand pacer has been just a spectator of RR success. With 13 wickets in 13 games, Boult has been pivotal with the new ball and its highlight has been his gem of delivery bowled to LSG captain KL Rahul during the same match where Ashwin batted at no. 3.

Asked to chase 166, Lucknow were handed body blow by the Kiwi pacer, who took two wickets on the first two legal deliveries of the first over.

The first one to fall was LSG skipper KL Rahul who got out for a golden duck on the very first ball of the innings. Bowling round the wicket, left-arm pacer Boult produced a peach of a delivery that jagged back in sharply after pitching and went through Rahul's bat-pad gap to destroy the stumps.

Rahul's reaction to the delivery summed up the quality of the ball. "I didn't see it, if I did I could have done something about it. Have to give it to him. Was a good ball," Rahul said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The New Zealand fast bowler Boult didn't stop there. He bowled a wide after dismissing Rahul and on the second legal delivery of the innings got Krishnappa Gowtham out leg before.

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