India, April 29 -- Four wins in a row to start the IPL 2026, and the Rajasthan Royals looked flawless as they occupied the top spot in the points table early in the season. It was only three defeats in the next four games that exposed their blemishes. If Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal were their strength, with Dhruv Jurel making a decent presence at No. 3, the middle-order emerged as a major flaw for the Rajasthan Royals.

In the first eight games that Rajasthan played this season, the middle-order line-up (4-7) averaged only 21.10, only behind Lucknow Super Giants (18,71) among all the 10 teams, with a strike rate of just 126.35.

However, on Tuesday, chasing 223 on a rather batting-friendly New Chandigarh track, the middle-or...