Former Indian batsman Akash Chopra Potential concerns have been flagged for Rajasthan Royals (RR) pointed to their young and relatively inexperienced batting unit as a key challenge ahead of IPL 2026. The Royals made an important call before the auction via trade. Sanju Samson that Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja In return, the Royals also traded Nitish Rana to the Delhi Capitals and acquired Donovan Ferreira via trade.
Young batting corps under the spotlight In a video on his YouTube channel ‘Akash Chopra’, he noted that RR’s batting core includes a lot of young names. Yeshsavi JaiswalVibhu Suryavanshi and Dhruv Jural. “You can call it weaknesses or challenges. The batting line-up is extremely young. Yashwi Jaiswal is experienced, but he is still young. Vibhu Suryavanshi is hitting a lot, but he is a young kid. Dhruv Jural has immense potential, but he is still unproven in the IPL as he has not scored runs there,” he said. The experience gap is a growing concern Chopra also pointed out that Ryan Prague Has shown promise, he has yet to establish himself internationally. He added Shimron Hatmire‘s role may be compromised, as RR may not be able to use him in his preferred batting position. Notably, Parag is all set to captain the Royals in the IPL 2026 season. “Ryan Parag has shown a lot of promise and ability, but he’s not an established international star. Shimron Hetmyer is definitely there, but he’s not available at the number he batted for the West Indies. No matter what you do, you can’t play him there. Donovan Ferreira has limited international experience,” he explained. Summarizing the batting concerns, Chopra stressed that while there is plenty of promise, the lack of international exposure in the top order could prove problematic. “When I look at the top six, there’s a lot of talent, but the international experience is very, very limited, except for Shimron Hetmyer, for whom he won’t be able to give the numbers he’s been able to achieve. So it’s a bit of a challenge,” observes Chopra. Hetmyer, in particular, was one of the standout performers for West Indies in the T20 World Cup 2026, scoring 248 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 186.46 while batting at No.3 – a role he is unlikely to play again for RR. The Spin Attack has its share of concerns. Chopra cited spin bowling as another area of concern citing the recent form of key players. “Spin bowling stocks have certainly gone up, but the current form is a slight problem, and that is a cause for concern. It’s not a concern, but I see it as a challenge. Ravi Bishnoi’s last year was extremely cold. So he was released. A great addition, but recent form is not great,” he said. He added that Jadeja, despite his pedigree, has not been the best wicket-taker in the T20 format in the last two seasons. “Ravindra Jadeja, again a great addition, but his current form in T20 cricket, from a wicket-taking point of view, is not very good if you look at his bowling for CSK over the last two years. So you definitely have two good spinners, but their current form is not their friend. You can see it as a challenge,” observed Chopra. Bishnoi took nine wickets in 11 innings during IPL 2025 at an economy rate of 10.83. Meanwhile, Jadeja took 10 wickets in 14 matches with an economy rate of 8.56 last season.
