RR had several quality bowlers in IPL 2025.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) adopted a weird strategy before the IPL 2025 auction and retained as many as six players. They exhausted INR 79 crore and had a limited budget to fill the remaining spots. Hence, they had to settle for various average options, and the drawbacks were visible during IPL 2025.
Still, RR managed to have a few quality players, some of them as injury replacements midway through the season. Among them were two South African left-arm speedsters, Kwena Maphaka and Nandre Burger. While they bought Maphaka for INR 1.50 crore in the auction, RR roped in Burger as an injury replacement for Sandeep Sharma at INR 3.50 crore.
Kwena Maphaka is among the finest young pacers going around at the moment. From U19 to higher levels, he has shown tremendous skill sets and the ability to bowl across phases. More importantly, he is learning quickly.
He can generate ample movement off the new ball and bring early wickets by bowling length balls consistently. Moreover, he has developed immensely as a death-over bowler and added more dimensions to his arsenal. Maphaka always had a lethal yorker, which he bowls with movement, making it more arduous to face.
Recently, he has worked on cutters and slower ones to remain unpredictable. The lines he employed on cutters were interesting, for the pacer would angle across the RHBs and bowl wider lines to stand out of the hitting arc. So, he is slowly developing into a complete package, and with superior skills already, the ceiling is definitely higher than most other young speedsters.
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Nandre Burger is also a left-arm pacer, but his expertise differs from Maphaka’s. Burger is more of an out-and-out pace bowler who can move the ball at high speeds. He can bowl fuller lengths consistently and operate effectively with the new ball.
The best thing about him is that he can rush batters with his pace and cramp batters for room. Then, he also has a sharp bouncer, which he uses as a surprise ball. Burger’s real value lies with the new ball, but he can also operate effectively in the middle overs due to his pace.
His shorter-length deliveries climb on the batters due to his high release points, and he can bowl hard lengths. There’s ample work that needs to be done when it comes to old-ball bowling, but Burger has the base. In fact, he can bowl 140+ km/h from the first ball and will only improve from here on.
Rajasthan Royals have three left-arm pacers in their squad – Kwena Maphaka, Nandre Burger, and Fazalhaq Farooqi. All three offer unique attributes and add depth to the bowling unit. However, RR might be forced to retain only two of them.
They have Jofra Archer as another overseas speedster, meaning they need to invest more in the batting and spin departments in the foreign category. Having an overseas pacer who doesn’t play all matches is not ideal planning, and RR can’t play all four. Assuming Archer will be retained, two spots are left for three players.
Rajasthan Royals bought Fazalhaq Farooqi for INR 2 crore in the IPL 2025 auction, but his performances weren’t up to the mark at any stage. He played five games and remained wicketless in all of them. Additionally, he conceded 12.35 runs per over.
Even his overall performances on Indian soil have been terrible. He has snared seven wickets at an atrocious average of 70.14 and an economy rate of 10.02 in 14 innings, including a best of 2/32. The surfaces will mostly be flat, and new-ball movement remains minimal, meaning Farooqi’s value comes down significantly.
Hence, RR should release him and vacate an overseas slot to use on getting a solid spinner who can bat a bit. Farooqi doesn’t add batting value either. This was an area RR suffered massively last season.
If RR retain both Kwena Maphaka and Nandre Burger, they can try more combinations next season, which were missing this time. For instance, if any of the two plays, RR can use Jofra Archer as an enforcer. Obviously, Archer poses a massive new-ball threat, but Maphaka and Burger are equally good in this phase and bring a different angle.
They already have Akash Madhwal, who can share the new ball if required, and Archer can bowl out-and-out pace. Maphaka also gives greater value in death overs after recent improvements, as mentioned above. So, RR suddenly get ample flexibility and can become one of the best pace attacks in the competition.
The best thing is that their attributes are better than Farooqi’s and will be more suitable on flatter decks. They don’t get as restricted as the Afghanistan pacer on the kind of decks IPL has lately. The ceiling is definitely higher for the South African pacers, and RR should not fumble the opportunity of retaining them.
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