Against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2025 encounter, Rajasthan Royals were sent to bat after losing the toss. They began on a good note, scoring 33 runs in the first wicket in a mere 3.5 overs. The run was however checked when Riyan Parag, who had opted to bat at No.3, was out for 25 in the eighth over to Varun Chakravarthy. Things got worse when Yashasvi Jaiswal was removed in the next over, with RR at 69/3 in 8.4 overs.
Here, Rajasthan had two tested batters in the dugout, Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer. But the team went for a shocking decision and promoted Wanindu Hasaranga, who was playing his first IPL match of the season, at No.5.
Why Was Hasaranga Promoted?
The tactical decision to promote Hasaranga was mainly to counter KKR’s combination of off-spinner Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy at the time. Since Nitish Rana, a left-handed batter, was already in, RR did not want two left-handers on strike together, and hence Hetmyer was kept back.
Though this accounted for Hetmyer’s late arrival, what was confusing to many was the non-selection of Dhruv Jurel, who had just scored a career-best T20 score of 70 in the last match.
Hasaranga, who is known for his attacking batting against spin, was apparently a tactical move against Chakravarthy and Moeen. In his T20 career, he has a healthy strike rate of 152 against spinners, although his average is low at 17.5. The plan was to deploy him as a pinch-hitter—enabling him to threaten the KKR spinners while keeping their more experienced batters for the end of the innings. The batting coach for Rajasthan, Vikram Rathour, validated this approach in the match telecast, saying, “We felt they will be bowling spinners, and wanted him to take them down.”
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A Familiar Strategy By Rahul Dravid
RR head coach Rahul Dravid has a penchant for taking all-rounders higher up the order in big situations. Throughout his time as India’s head coach, he frequently pushed Axar Patel into pressure situations, such as in the 2022 T20 World Cup game against Pakistan and the 2024 T20 World Cup final. The move of pushing Hasaranga higher up the order appeared to be following this pattern as well.
Did The Move Work?
Unfortunately for Rajasthan, the risk didn’t yield any returns. Hasaranga tried to take on Chakravarthy but could manage only four runs from four deliveries before getting dismissed. Although the change didn’t do much for runs, RR can perhaps say that it served them in taking a couple of possibly threatening balls from KKR’s spinners without exposing their top-order batsmen too early.
In retrospect, the move to keep Jurel, who was in top form, out of the game can be questioned, but Rajasthan’s strategy was evident to counter spin with aggression and save their best batters for the second half of the game.
