RR vs PK, IPL 2021: Jofra Archer's absence major setback for Rajasthan Royals, admits Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara, the newly appointed director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals (RR), has admitted that his side would miss would the absence of Jofra Archer in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Archer underwent surgery to treat his hand injury in March and it is still unclear if the English fast bowler would join RR in the IPL 2021. Archer sustained a cut to his hand while cleaning at his home in January shortly before flying to India ahead of the four-match Test series. The ECB's medical team managed the injury throughout the tour, and it did not affect his availability.

With 20 wickets in 14 games, Archer finished the IPL 2020 as RR's leading wicket-taker, while he also scored 113 runs with the bat.

In the absence of Archer, RR would want Chris Morris to step up, especially when they bought the South African cricketer for a record price of INR 16.25 crore at the auction ahead of the 14th edition of the tournament.

In an interview ahead of RR's IPL 2021 opener on Monday, Sangakkara said he believes it's important for the youngsters in the team to uplift their game and chip in. RR have Karthik Tyagi as well as the likes of Jaydev Unadkat and young Chetan Sakariya as their local pace-bowling talents.

Last season, Tyagi picked nine wickets in 10 games for RR and as a reward, the U-19 World Cup star was included among the net bowlers for India's tour of Australia.

"Sanju and I will both agree that it's a big blow for us. Jofra is a very vital part of our make-up and not having him is unfortunately the reality of it. We have to work around it and plan contingencies. Inexperience can probably work for you and it could mean that the opposition hasn't seen you either. Fast bowling in IPL is not an easy task and we saw that yesterday (Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings) as well.

Most of the wickets are good for batting. So, you have to be quite skilful. We have Kartik Tyagi, who did pretty well last season in patches and this year we have new additions (pacer) Kuldeep Yadav (Jr) and Chetan Sakariya," Sangakkara was quoted by the Press Trust of India, as saying in an interview on Sunday.

The former Sri Lankan skipper went on to explain that it is important for the youngsters to understand the match situations and bowl accordingly.

"It's about keeping them focussed on what their job is and get them trained and prepared to execute different deliveries, scenarios and match plans for the opposition but at the same time, giving them confidence about their own strengths," he added further.

RR will take on Punjab Kings in their opening game of IPL 2021 on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.