The inaugural championship of the Indian Premier League Rajasthan Royals already qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs. After the rain washed out the game between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders last night in Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, Rajasthan Royals completed the league stage with the 3rd spot in the points table. In the ongoing season, Rajasthan Royals lost only one game from the first nine league matches, and after that they lost four matches continuously and the last game of league stage was abandoned due to rain.
Rajasthan Royals will play the eliminator against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 22 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. After the first season, the Rajasthan Royals did not lift the Indian Premier League trophy; however, they came close but did not cross the final line. In this article, we will know how many times the Rajasthan Royals franchise qualified for the playoffs in the Indian Premier League and what’s their record in the playoffs.
RR Playoff Record: How many times RR Qualified for Playoffs?
Year | Position |
---|---|
2008 | 1st |
2009 | 6th |
2010 | 7th |
2011 | 6th |
2012 | 7th |
2013 | 3rd |
2014 | 5th |
2015 | 4th |
2016 | – |
2017 | – |
2018 | 4th |
2019 | 7th |
2020 | 8th |
2021 | 7th |
2022 | 2nd |
2023 | 5th |
2024 | 3rd |
2008
Rajasthan Royals ended up in first place after the league stage in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Rajasthan Royals won 11 matches out of 14 and lost only 3 matches in the league stage. In the first semi-final of the IPL, the Rajasthan Royals played against the 4th-placed Delhi Daredevils at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on May 30, 2008. RR scored brilliantly in the first innings and put up a huge total of 192 runs at the end of the 20th over. Shane Watson scored a brilliant half century from 29 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Yusuf Pathan played an outstanding attacking knock of 45 from just 21 balls and smashed 3 fours and 4 sixes. In the second innings, the RR blowers dominated and got all 10 wickets of the Delhi team in just 16.1 overs, winning the match by 105 runs by a huge margin. Munaf Patel and Shane Watson took three wickets, and for his brilliant all-rounder performance Shane Watson was selected as the player of the match.
In the final of the first edition of the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 3 wickets on June 1st at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Chennai scored 163 by losing 5 wickets after completing 20 overs. Suresh Raina scored 43 from 30 balls, and Parthiv Patel scored 38 from 33 balls for CSK. Yusuf Pathan took three wickets, just giving up 22 runs in his four-over spell. RR chased down the CSK target on the last ball. Yusuf Pathan also contributed with the bat and scored 56 from 39 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes. For this all-round effort, Yusuf Pathan won the Player of the Match in the first final of the Indian Premier League.
After the inaugural addition of 2008, RR performance decreased for four consecutive years. In 2009, RR finished in sixth place, seventh place in 2010, sixth place again in 2011, and seventh place in the 2012 IPL season.
2013
The 2013 season saw the Rajasthan Royals comeback and end the league stage in 3rd place. In that season, RR won 10 matches from 16 league games and ended with 20 points. RR, after 4 years, qualified for the playoffs, and they played the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, on May 22, 2013. Due to brilliant bowling, RR restricted SRH to just 132 runs a loss of seven wickets after 20 overs. Vikramjeet Singh Malik took 2 wickets from 3 overs and just conceded 14 runs; James Faulkner, Shane Watson, and Sidharth Trivedi all took one wicket and bowled with good economy. RR chased down the SRH total with 4 balls remaining and 4 wickets in hand. Brad Hodge played an outstanding knock of unbeaten 54 runs from 29 balls with 2 fours and 5 maximus. For this match-winning performance, Brad Hodge won the player of the match award.
Qualifier 2 of the 2013 IPL season was played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on May 24 between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. The Rajasthan Royals batted first and scored 165 runs after losing six wickets in 20 overs against the Mumbai Indians. Rahul Dravid was a top scorer with 43 runs from 37 balls. Harbhajan Singh took three wickets, and Kieron Pollard took two wickets of the Rajasthan Royals batters. The Mumbai Indians chased down the RR target in the last over, with four wickets remaining. Opener Dwayne Smith scored 62 runs with six fours and two sixes from 44 balls for the Mumbai Indians. The Player of the Match award goes to Harbhajan Singh for his remarkable bowling performance of 3 wickets from 23 runs in four overs.
2015
In the 2014 IPL season, the Rajasthan Royals just missed out on qualification due to a low net run rate. In the 2015 season, the Rajasthan Royals came back again and qualified for the playoffs, with 4th place ending after the league stage. On May 20, 2015, the Rajasthan Royals played eliminator against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. RCB won the toss and elected to bat first. AB de Villiers, playing at number three scored quicker 66 runs from 38 balls with 4 fours and 4 maximums. Mandeep Singh also contributed with 54 from 34 balls. For RR, Dhaval Kulkarni took 2 wickets from 28 runs in his 4 overs spell. RR batters surrendered against the RCB bowlers and got all out in just 109 runs. Ajinkya Rahane was the highest scorer for RR with 42 runs from 39 balls; six batters got out without scoring in double digits in that chase. Sreenath Aravind, Harshal Patel, David Wiese, and Yuzvendra Chahal all took two wickets, and Mitchell Starc took one wicket for RCB.
In the 2016 and 2017 seasons, the Rajasthan Royals did not take part in the league due to suspension.
2018
The Rajasthan Royals returned in the 2018 season of the Indian Premier League, and they also qualified for the playoffs with 14 points. RR ended the league stage in 4th place by winning 7 matches. Once again, RR lost the eliminator, this time against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on May 23, 2018. RR won the toss and elected to field first due to Dinesh Karthik’s 52 from 32 balls, including 4 fours and 2 sixes, and Andre Russell’s quick fire of 49 from 25 balls, with 3 fours and 5 maximus. KKR scored 169 runs in 20 overs. Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, and Ben Laughlin took 3 wickets for RR. RR failed to chase down the score and ended the innings at 114 runs with a loss of 4 wickets after 20 overs. Rahane scored 46 runs on 41 balls, and Sanju Samson scored 50 on 38 balls, but RR lost by 25 runs. Piyush Chawla took 2 wickets in that match. For a blasting inning, Russell was awarded the player of the match.
In 2019, once again, the Rajasthan Royals completed the season in 7th place, in 2020 in 8th place, and in 2021 once again in 7th place.
2022
Rajasthan Royals won nine matches out of 14 in the 2022 season and earned second place in the points table after league matches were completed. Rajasthan Royals played Qualifier 1 of the 2022 IPL at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on May 24 against the newly joined Gujarat Titans. Gujarat won the toss and elected to field first. Jos Buttler once again played brilliant knock and scored 89 runs from 56 balls with 12 fours and 2 maximus. Captain Sanju Samson also contributed with 47 runs with 5 fours and 2 sixes from 26 balls. RR posted a good total of 188 runs at the end of the inning. The Gujarat Titans chased down the target in 19.3 overs with the help of a remarkable knock by David Miller. Miller scored unbeaten 68 runs from 38 balls with 3 fours and 5 big sixes. For this outstanding batting, Miller won the player of the match award. Captain Hardik Pandya contributed to the win by scoring an unbeaten 40 from 27 balls with five fours.
Rajasthan Royals got a chance to take revenge for their 2015 defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In Qualifier 2, against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 27 in Ahmedabad, RR won the toss and elected to field first. Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy bowled an amazing spell and took 3 wickets each. RR restricted RCB to 157 runs after 20 overs. Jos Buttler continued his dream form, smashed a remarkable hundred, and completely outplayed RCB. Buttler played an unbeaten 106-run inning from 60 balls with 10 fours and 6 sixes. Due to Buttler’s knock, RR got a ticket to the 2022 IPL final, and Buttler won the player of the match trophy.
Once again, the Gujarat Titans are up against the Rajasthan Royals in that season, this time at Narendra Modi Stadium on May 29, 2022. RR won the toss in the final and opted to bat first. RR was not able to continue his batting form and only managed to score 130 runs after 20 overs. The Gujarat Titans bowlers did a brilliant job and restricted RR batters to scoring a big total. Hardik Pandya took three big wickets of RR batters including Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Shimron Hitmyer. Sai Kishore took two wickets, and Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, and Rashid Khan all got one wicket. The Gujarat Titans chased down the small total in 18.1 overs, and once again, RR’s dream to lift the IPL trophy a second time is not fulfilled.
In 2023, the Rajasthan Royals lost the chance to qualify just by two points. RR won seven matches out of 14 in the league stage and ended up in 5th place. In the ongoing season, RR qualified for the playoffs, but they don’t have winning momentum with them, On the other side Royal Challengers Bengaluru coming into the playoffs by winning six matches continuously. It will be very interesting to see that, will RR break the playoff hurdle this year or RCB will continue their winning run.
FAQs: RR Playoffs Record
1 ) How many times the Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoffs in the IPL, and in which years?
Six times, the Rajasthan Royals qualified for the playoffs in the IPL. The first was in 2008, where they ended up winning the title; after that, in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2022, and currently in the 2024 season RR qualified for the playoffs.Â
2 ) How many finals appearances by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL?
Ans. 2 IPL final appearances by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. In the 2008 and the 2022 season.