14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi signed off from the Indian Premier League 2025 with an incredible innings on Tuesday, May 20. His mature knock of 57 off 33 balls helped set up Rajasthan Royals’ second successful chase of the season, as the team bowed out with their heads held high in what otherwise turned out to be a terrible campaign.
The youngest cricketer in IPL history, Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the face of the broadcaster’s “Gen Bold vs Gen Gold” campaign — a symbolic generational clash between fearless youth and seasoned legends. It was perhaps poetic that Rajasthan were playing their final group-stage game against Chennai Super Kings — the epitome of that generational clash between a 14 year old sensation and 43-year experienced Talisman MS Dhoni.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi ended his debut IPL season with 252 runs from 7 matches at a staggering strike-rate of 206.56 and an average of 36. Those are not just promising rookie numbers — they’re the kind of stats that demand long-term investment.
However still with Vaibhav Suryavanshi making waves under the tutelage of India’s T20 World Cup winning coach Rahul Dravid on his return to Rajasthan Royals, the IPL campaign of Rajasthan Royals in 2025 could be said as a chance of missed opportunities as they finished just above 10th placed Chennai Super Kings at the ninth position .
The 2025 Indian Premier League season was a challenging one for Rajasthan Royals (RR), as they failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing with just 8 points from 14 matches. Their campaign was marked by inconsistency and missed opportunities, culminating in finishing 9th in the league stage a considerable drop after finishing 3rd in IPL 2024
Vaibhav Suryavanshi the talking point of the Auction for IPL 2025
In September 2024, it was announced that Rahul Dravid would replace Kumar Sangakkara as Rajasthan’s head coach while Vikram Rathour would join as the batting coach. In February 2025, Sairaj Bahutule joined Rajasthan as a bowling coach. At the Auction table at Jeddah , according to the retention policies , Rajasthan Royals retained as many as six players including skipper Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag.
| Sr. No. | Player | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sanju Samson | 18 crores |
| 2. | Yashasvi Jaiswal | 18 crores |
| 3. | Dhruv Jurel | 14 crores |
| 4. | Riyan Parag | 14 crores |
| 5. | Shimron Hetmyer | 11 crores |
| 6. | Sandeep Sharma | 11 crores |
Rajasthan bought 14 players in the auction, including seven capped players and five overseas player with the most exciting buy being of 14 year old Vaibhav Suryavanshi for 1.10 crores making him the youngest player in the 18 years of IPL history.
Rajasthan Royals Journey in IPL 2025 – A Journey of missed opportunities
RR’s campaign began on a sour note with a crushing defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad, conceding a massive 286 runs — the second-highest team total in IPL history.Despite a commanding win against Punjab Kings in their fourth match, RR’s performance remained erratic. The team went on to lose five consecutive matches.
Some notable performances included Vaibhav Suryavanshi becoming the youngest and the fastest Indian player to score a century in IPL facing just 35 balls, leading the team to defeat the strong Gujarat Titans by chasing a total of 210 runs in just 15.5 overs. However, they suffered a significant loss to Mumbai Indians by 100 runs in the next match, which effectively ended their playoff hopes.
Royals’ worst year in the competition saw them go through a horror stretch where they won a single game in nine. Samson was out injured for the majority of their games, and his stand-in, Parag, though he made 393 runs at a strike rate of 166, had little joy as captain. Though Archer played nearly the full season, his numbers were middling, and the usually reliable Sandeep Sharma didn’t have a good year either.
Uncertainity in Playing XI was main reason for RR to falter in 2025
There is a feeling that Rajasthan Royals (RR) have been terrible chasers in IPL 2025. Until the very last game of their season, they were able to run down a target only once in eight attempts. And that needed a 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi to perform a miracle.
On that basis, there is a temptation to say that RR kept betting against themselves this season. They won the toss seven times and chose to bat second each time. There are much more private ways to explore masochism. Sanju Samson admitted to second thoughts at the toss in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) game.
A franchise that made it to the final in 2022 and fell just one step short of that in 2024 isn’t in the business of making mistakes. Least of all the same one over and over. Over this three-year period, RR had a win-loss ratio of 1.63 as a chasing unit, the second-best of all the teams in the IPL.
They could have improved on that this year. Three of those seven defeats were looking a lot like wins. Two of them saw inspired performances from their young Indian batting core that had totals in excess of 200 well within their grasp. One run. Two runs. Ten. Eleven. A Super Over. So slim were the margins. Most royals are defined by excess. These guys were left forever reaching for parity. Reverse-swing played a big part in their undoing. No other team suffered as badly as RR did to the old ball’s whims.
Mitchell Starc. Josh Hazlewood. Avesh Khan. Andre Russell. These were the impediments they ran into and couldn’t overcome. When those bowlers were able to execute their plans to as close to perfection as possible, all RR’s batters could do was hold on.
Shimron Hetmyer found himself in the thick of this unforgiving cycle. He finished with a strike rate of 158.53, the seventh-lowest among 46 batters who were a frequent presence in the death overs (minimum 30 runs scored). RR set aside INR 11 crore to retain him. He had earned that payday. Between 2022 and 2024, his strike rate in the death overs was 200.
Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag make up a solid batting group but they all play high-risk cricket. Asking them to do anything else will diminish their match-winning ability. RR could get the best out of them if they could bolster their middle order. Bringing in someone who can stay calm and reassess the situation when it starts to turn the wrong way.
Their arrival becomes all the more essential because Vaibhav Suryavanshi has added to their top-order riches. The promising Indian batting talent RR have could do even more damage – which is startling to say when Jaiswal and Suryavanshi put on an opening stand of 76 where 74 runs came in boundaries – if they had a safety net.
There are options on the market. Sikandar Raza has done it before, although only briefly in the IPL. RR have previously tried and been burned by David Miller, Rovman Powell and Daryl Mitchell. But this time they don’t have to do much heavy lifting. There’s maybe a chance it clicks. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that most of them offer a second skill.
Coach Rahul Dravid finally won a senior World Cup going in on all-round talent. India’s championship-winning side had four of them and the one that he fought for – Axar Patel – surprised South Africa with the bat. Only just back in charge of RR, Dravid kept putting out sides that seemed to lack in batting depth; they have had Wanindu Hasaranga bat as high as No. 5 and 6 even in this Impact Player era.
They backed Sandeep Sharma over Jofra Archer for the Super Over against DC. Their fast bowlers ended the season with the highest combined average (42.95) and the second-highest economy rate (10.60). RR were knocked out of the playoffs race on May 1. At that point, they had only managed three powerplays where they picked up more than one wicket. They were constantly falling behind in games because of their bowling attack. It highlights the value of someone else that they let go. Trent Boult.
There were at least five matches this season where Rajasthan had the game by the scruff of the neck and let it slip. Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, and even Wanindu Hasaranga have all been culpable at different stages. Rajasthan are a young side, but in their final game, they showed what a little bit of maturity from Sanju Samson or anyone in the middle order could have done for their season.
Speaking after the IPL 2025, Samson himself acknowledged the issue, admitting even the team doesn’t quite know how they ended up at the bottom of the table — because they didn’t feel they played badly through the bulk of the season.
Samson said the final game shows the blueprint they need to follow calmness in pressure, clarity in roles, and composure in clutch moments. With a few tweaks in personnel and a slightly evolved mindset, Rajasthan Royals might just be back in playoff contention next season. And if they do return stronger, it will almost certainly be with Vaibhav Suryavanshi as one of their pillars. Much like Samson and Jaiswal before him, Vaibhav Suryavanshi looks destined to be a long-term Rajasthan project — and perhaps the face of the Gen Bold era in the IPL.
Also Read: CSK vs RR: The King Of Captain Cool’s Final Showdown- Will MS Dhoni Say Goodbye?