Cricketing pundits , commentators and past cricketings greats are in a quandary wondering why Rajasthan Royals has been successful in the T20 format. The conundrum explains the state of the situation which all the teams in the 2008 version of the IPL failed to decipher.
The team is led by the wily Sheikh of Tweek "Shane Warne" who has been long retired for the past 2 years and doesn't even play cricket at the domestic level anymore.His energy these days is channelized more towards raising money for his charity foundation , spinning a web of intrigue around fellow poker players and at getting his family life back together. Warney was the first player to be put up for auction last year and had no takers amongst all the buyers , infact there was a silence for the first 4-5 minutes post the announcement of his name and that explains his price of US$450000.The owner of Rajasthan Royals must be mighty proud the day he picked up Warne as the leader of his pack of minnows.
As the captain and coach of the Royals the first right steps taken by Warne was to build a team which is more suitable for the 20 over format and he picked up players who are more of T20 players rather than ODI or test cricket players.Warney is an astute cricketing brain and has a nack of spotting talent , he has ably exhibited this by nurturing young cricketers like Asnodkar,Jadeja,Trivedi,Ojha and now lately our very own left handed replica of Lasith Malinga - Kamran Khan.The management of the team has supported all these decisions and has ensured total no interference with the daily running of the team.Giving such level of authority to any captain and coach can be good and can be diabolical at the same time.
Picking up a team of youngsters is always good for the shorter version of the game as it allows the captain/coach to immediately identify the sometimes flawed technique of the young brigade but also ensures that the young players accept the feedback in the right perspective and work towards improving their game.
A team of superstars like - Kolkatta Knight Riders / Bangalore Royal Challengers consist of players with inertia value hence are not open to feedback over the game in a 20 over format.Now exactly what can you ask Dravid,Ganguly or Chris Gayle to change in their batting technique and what better can you ask from Kumble who has taken more than 1000 first class wickets.
The team comprising of test and ODI cricketing greats wouldn't assure any team of success in any version of T20.It is pertinent to pick up the right combination of players with the right skills sets to be successful in this volatile game of cricket wherein the margin of error is minimal.
From a pure financial perspective buying average but effective T20 players ensures a higher returns to investment ratio as the auction prices of these players is sometimes as low as 2% to those of the most expensive player in the competition (comparison is between Kamran Khan and Andrew Flintoff).Rajasthan Royals have also ensured that most of the players in their squad (both domestic and international players) are available for the whole competition.This allows the players to work towards their strengths as the competition progresses and the whole team peaks at the oppurtune time.
Also the Rajasthan Royals team has not given away to long term strategies like the Multiple captains theory et all.Playing cricket in a basic fashion is the best strategy and implementing strategies which are an outcome of the various simulation runs of a cricketing software does not ensure success.
As a quick recap the mantra of success for a team to be successful in a T20 format is as follows :-
> Pick up an inspirational and astute captain / coach
> Completely disregard the multiple captain theory else you would be breeding a team of captains
> Pick up T20 format players at the best possible price
> Spend less on cheerleaders / advertising campaigns/merchandise and more on players comfort levels.
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