When the Rajasthan Royals (RR) lost to Gujarat Titans by 58 runs in Ahmedabad, skipper Sanju Samson scolded his bowlers for deviating from the team’s death-overs strategy.
With plenty of movement and bounce available, Jofra Archer’s blistering spell saw RR get off to a strong start, dismissing Shubman Gill for two. However, the team gave up 72 runs in the last five overs, which saw GT go from 145 for two to 217 for six. Additionally, they let up 17 runs overall through wides.
In the post-match presentation, Samson stated, “There was obviously some purchase in the wicket.
We planned to have someone like Jofra bowl first, the way he started taking Shubman Gill‘s wicket, and the way we started in the powerplay.
“In the final overs, we simply deviated from the plan. A few strategies, I believe; we prepared something different, and the bowlers carried it out. Therefore, we must reflect about the meeting, perhaps tomorrow or the day after, and then return and attempt to carry out the same.
“They also batted really well but I think a couple of sixes or 15 to 20 runs, we gave away in the bowling.”
Before Sandeep Sharma sent down the 17th for 13 runs, Shahrukh Khan leaked 18 runs off the 16th over, despite being removed by Maheesh Theekshana. After that, Archer came back for an 11-run 18th over, giving up just one boundary. However, Rahul Tewatia took the lead after Tushar Deshpande bowled the 19th over for 14 runs and Sandeep’s final over went for 16.
In the press conference, RR’s spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule added that “it was a very good track to bat on,” but they had anticipated a par total of “180 to 200,” rather than GT’s 217.
“Ya, we could have maybe given about 20 runs less but I think they batted well,” he stated. “I think we could have gotten closer to that only if we had some partnerships going on, but Sai Sudharsan came out of the powerplay very strong and had better partnerships than we did, so that’s how they got a total that was big.”
“In the T20 format, there are instances when the execution doesn’t proceed as planned. RR’s bowling attack clearly had intentions, but sadly, things didn’t work out the way they had hoped. We will bowl a few wides, but generally, the bowling unit gave it their all on a track that was jam-packed with runs.”
RR entered the match fresh off victories after batting first over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). In spite of the defeat, Samson, who chose to bowl on Wednesday, insisted that RR doesn’t want to be a side “that’s only good at defending totals.”
“We also wonder’should we have chased first’ or’should we have done something else?’ when we lose games. We were anticipating this, though, and it was a pretty nice wicket to chase on, in my opinion.
“We would like to remain, adhere to the rules, and fulfil our obligations. We don’t want to become a squad that excels at defending totals alone. In addition, we want to win games when chasing rather than just when batting first.
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