We don't buy superstars, we make superstars'

Royals are out of playoff contention. © BCCI
Over the years, Rajasthan Royals have been renowned to be a side that promotes and nurtures young talent. After winning the inaugural IPL season in 2008, RR hasn't seen much success as a team, with their 2022 runners-up finish being the next best campaign for the franchise. Their 100-run defeat to MI on Thursday (May 1) officially knocked the Royals out of IPL 2025, which meant another season gone without a playoffs berth.

Amidst all this, the one thing that keeps RR going is their constant endeavour to propel talented young players to the forefront, the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi being the latest in the list. The Royals have received a lot of flak with their retention choices in recent times - Jos Buttler and Trent Boult being the notable names that RR let go - but fielding coach Dishant Yagnik doesn't feel that the team has much concerns in the ongoing cycle and beyond.

"Whenever a new player has entered our side over the years, they weren't stars already," Yagnik explained during the post-match press conference.

"They became stars at our franchise. The current bunch, we're confident that they will become stars, we'll make them stars. We don't buy superstars, we make superstars, that's our tagline.

"For example, take Vaibhav Suryavanshi, everyone was happy and emotional for him the way he batted. So, in the coming years, guys like him will become stars.

"Time has come for us to look beyond such things (regretting not retaining players like Buttler). When we don't have them, we have to forget and move on. Now we have Vaibhav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson is our captain. We'll go ahead with this side and we'll prove our winning ability with this side."

Reflecting on the 2025 season, Yagnik lamented the Royals' inability to execute their plans in crunch moments. It cost them dearly in three successive run chases and in hindsight, those were six valuable points gone down the drain. Against Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, the equation was single digits going into the final over of the chase - a cakewalk by modern T20 standards. Yet, the DC game went into a Super Over where RR further lost the plot in plans and executions to come up short. Against LSG, the choke saga continued as the batters failed to close the game out.

If it was Mitchell Starc in the first contest, it was Avesh Khan in the next game as RR's campaign hit a roadblock. Against RCB, the equation had come down to 17 needed off 12 balls, another easy situation to be in but the Royals once again found ways to lose, eventually falling short by 11 runs. Yagnik admitted that his side could have done a lot better in those three fixtures.

"If you look at most of the games, we were often close to winning those matches. In those crunch moments where execution is crucial, we probably fell short in close games and that's how two points went away from us. As you know, we were dominating in those three games (against DC, LSG and RCB) but there was a shortage in execution during crunch moments. It happens in cricket."

Another aspect where RR lacked severely is in the fielding department. They were guilty of putting down too many catches, many of which proved critical in the overall context of the game. Against MI, there was more evidence of this as Suryakumar Yadav got multiple reprieves that he cashed in on with aplomb. Yagnik chose to look at this season's errors as an anomaly and felt that fielding form does fluctuate in the sport.

"I've been the fielding coach for eight years now. From 2018 to 2023 if you check the data, we were always in the top three (in terms of fielding). Once in a while, such a season comes when you miss a lot of catches in back-to-back games. It happens with all franchises.

"In cricket, taking and missing catches are part and parcel of the game. Even today, three catches were missed. What matters is your level of preparation."

Yagnik was all praise for MI's batting effort after the five-time champions had posted a huge total of 217 on a surface that wasn't exactly a belter. To be fair, RR's bowlers did execute their plans for most parts but were undone by some outstanding batting from the visitors. If Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma set up the platform with their respective fifties, the work was carried forward by Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya as MI ended up with a daunting total on the board.

Reflecting on his side's bowling, Yagnik didn't prefer to be too critical and instead, credited MI for putting up a fantastic show.

"If someone's skill proves to be a handful for your bowling plans, like Rohit's skill set, Surya's skill set. They batted well and hit sixes off really good balls. So, you have to credit Mumbai Indians' batters for the way they batted, In the last game, GT conceded that Vaibhav played classy shots. Similarly, you need to credit MI for their batting."

On a night when dew didn't show up, Royals' decision to bowl at the toss looked like a blunder in hindsight. On a slow surface, batting didn't get easier in the second half, as was the expectation from the home side. Given RR's emphatic chase against GT, it wasn't surprising to see them opt to bowl but the results backfired for them. Yagnik also defended RR's decision to chase, citing the logical reasoning behind the move.

"If you look at the previous games played at this venue, batting has always been easier to bat in the second innings. There is always the expectation of dew. With the weather being a bit overcast then (at the time of the toss), there was also the possibility of getting some swing early. So, keeping all these technical points in mind, we bowled first."