Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals should have gotten over the line after the rollicking start provided by the openers to the chase but the batters weren’t committed enough to take down the Lucknow Super Giants bowlers at the back end, said head coach Kumar Sangakkara.
Chasing LSG’s 154 for seven, RR were coasting along when openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (44) and Jos Buttler (40) were at the crease as the duo shared 87 runs in 11.3 overs. But some quick wickets derailed their chase as RR eventually fell short by 10 runs.
“Our openers put on a really good stand. We were needing 8 per overs when the 12th over finished with 10 wickets in hand, that’s not very difficult,” said Sangakkara during the post-match press conference.
“Unfortunately, we lost three wickets in three overs. We still should have gotten over the line. We had enough batting in the shed. We left it a little bit too late and needed too many boundaries in the end.
“At the back end, especially (Ravi) Bishnoi’s last over, we weren’t committed enough to take him down for three four sixes. Even if the batter got out that time it didn’t matter.”
The Sri Lankan great said the pitch was not easy to bat on as the ball got older.
“I think we got a better powerplay than they did. It was all about targeting one or two over but unfortunately every time we wanted to do that we lost a wicket,” Sangakkara said.
“It was a difficult wicket to bat on as the ball got older but they also bowled very well. It was a tough pitch and Lucknow bowled really smartly but at the same time we should have got over the line.”
With RR needing 51 off 29 balls, Ryan Parag could manage just 15 not out off 12 balls as they finished at 144 for six.
“In that situation (last couple of overs), he can just go out and hit as many sixes as quickly as he can. It’s a very clear plan that Riyan has. We had Dhruv (Jurel) to kind of take care of the pace and we just needed 2-3 sixes in the middle overs,” Sangakarra said.
“He’s (Parag) been batting well in the nets. We do back our players quite well … Unfortunately, he hasn’t been in good form. We will assess that and address that at his training and see where we get to over the next few games.”
Sangakkara was full of praise for Ravichandran Ashwin, who returned with figures of 2 for 23 Wednesday night.
“He (Ashwin) is just concentrating on bowling his stock ball, he trusts his variations. He has a great series in terms of Tests, bowled a lot of overs. He understands that the ball is coming out really well. He is getting his under-cutter going and he has got his carrom ball.
“He is in amazing form for us and I think it is a good lesson for all the bowlers on a pitch like this,” he said.
LSG pacer Avesh Khan, who picked up three for 25 and defended 19 runs off the last over, said the visitors just planned to take the game deep after putting a not-so-impressive total on the board.
“Our powerplay score wasn’t great. Even in the end, we couldn’t charge up our innings. But once we started bowling, we found out it wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on as there wasn’t any bounce. So, we decided to stick to our plans and defend what we have,” said Avesh.
“We all know in IPL the game can change in one over. Our idea was to take the game as deep as possible. Once we got Sanju (Samson) and Jos Buttler out, we knew we were in this. In the huddle, we were saying let’s get as many dot balls as possible.”
PTI
