SWOT Analysis IPL 2024: Can Rajasthan Royals Reclaim Lost Glory?

The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just around the corner and the champions of the inaugural IPL campaign, Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be hoping to claim their second title after winning the first-ever edition in 2008. Regarded as the perennial underdogs, the Royals made the playoffs in 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018, and most recently in 2022 when they finished as runners-up. Last season saw them fall short of a playoff spot by two points after finishing fifth in the standings with 14 points thanks to seven wins and just as many defeats.

In IPL 2024, a reinvigorated RR team under Sanju Samson will aim to lift the coveted trophy again after more than 15 years. Just before the IPL mini-auction in December 2023, RR secured Avesh Khan's signature by trading Devdutt Padikkal to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Meanwhile, their latest signings at the mini-auction included the likes of Rovman Powell (INR 7.4 crore), Shubham Dubey (INR 5.8 crore), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (INR 40 lakh), Abid Mushtaq (INR 20 lakh) and Nandre Burger (INR 50 lakh).

As per the two-week schedule announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), RR begin their IPL 2024 season opener against LSG at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on March 24.

While RR gears up for another exciting IPL season, let's take a look at their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strength

The explosive opening duo of Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of the strongest opening pairs in the league and skipper Sanju Samson at No.3 is the icing on the cake.

Averaging over 35, the aforementioned trio cumulatively accounted for 1579 and 1379 runs in the 2022 and 2023 IPL seasons, respectively.

It's safe to say that RR's top three can be banked