Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) captain Steve Smith rued the lack of partnerships and the loss of wickets at regular intervals as the franchise succumbed to yet another defeat in the ongoing 13th edition of the IPL 20202 against Delhi Capitals (DC) on Wednesday (October 14) in Dubai.
RR managed to restrict DC to 161/7 but failed to chase a modest target on a slow wicket target and eventually suffered a 13-run defeat in the 30th match of the IPL 2020 against the Capitals on Wednesday.
They are currently languishing in 7th place in the points table with just 3 wins from 8 matches – which means their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs are hanging by a thread, as the RR will have now to win all of their remaining matches to stand a chance of making it to top four in the ongoing tournament.
Ben Stokes (41) and Jos Buttler (22) gave Royals a good start and then Sanju Samson (25) and Robin Uthappa (32) tried to keep the team afloat but later, the team just choked under pressure against Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada in the death overs, as DC bowlers restricted RR on 148 runs.
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Following the defeat, Smith said his batsmen failed to deal with the DC bowlers' varied pacer while admitting that his team isn’t in the greatest position at the moment but hopes for a strong comeback on October 17 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing IPL 2020.
Smith said at the post-match presentation: “We thought we bowled well at the backend and restricted them to 160-odd, that was probably around par on this wicket. And the opening partnership got us ahead in the game but we couldn't extend those partnerships, boys were getting in and getting out, not going on to make 50 or 60. It has been the trend in the tournament.”
He signed off by saying, “The boys that have the air speed have had the most success, Jofra (Archer) has been great for us and same with (Anrich) Nortje and (Kagiso) Rabada for Delhi. They changed things around tonight by bowling with pace, taking pace off, and varying it nicely, we weren't able to deal with that. We are not in the greatest position at the moment, so need to move on from this and hopefully come back with a big game in three days' time.”
It was the game for the fast bowlers as the RR’s pace spearhead Jofra Archer returned with the terrific figures of 3/19 in his four overs, while DC pacers Anrich Nortje (2w), Kagiso Rabada (1w), and Tushar Deshpande (2w) kept things tight in Dubai.
(With ANI Inputs)
