Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Steve Smith admitted his team lacked a good enough total on the board to put Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) under pressure in the all-important IPL 2020 fixture this Thursday (October 22) in Dubai.
Royals suffered an eight-wicket defeat after scoring a modest 154/6 in their allotted 20 overs. In an innings which never really got into full rhythm, Sanju Samson top-scored for his team with 36.
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Ben Stokes (30) struggled throughout his knock and it needed cameos from Riyan Parag (20) and Jofra Archer (16*) to take RR past the 150-mark.
Smith, who managed 19 runs off 15 balls before being dismissed, felt they lost the game in the first half.
"It (the wicket) got better as the game went on. It was slow and stopping in the first innings, it was one of those wickets which was quite hard to start on. We needed some more runs in the first innings," he said at the post-match presentation, as quoted by ANI.
"I cannot put my finger on anything, there are plenty of good players and good teams. We have not been able to pull back to back wins. We just need to keep winning and do not know how things will work for us mathematically, we have to keep winning, that is our job now," Smith added.
In the second half, familiar bowling problems resurfaced for RR. Archer dismissed SRH's renowned openers, David Warner (4) and Jonny Bairstow (10), cheaply. But there wasn't enough support at the other end to carry the momentum forward.
SRH recovered from 16/2 to 156/2 inside 18.1 overs with Manish Pandey (83*) playing an outstanding knock and all-rounder Vijay Shankar (52*) also making a sensible half-century.
The only other RR bowler to have respectable figures outside Archer was leg-spinner Rahul Tewatia (0/25), others went for plenty.
Smith felt he could've perhaps given Archer an extra powerplay over and try to dismiss in-form Manish, which would've taken them deeper into SRH's inexperienced middle-order in absence of injured Kane Williamson.
"We started well. Jofra taking two big wickets early but we could not keep the foot on the pedal. Vijay played smart innings and Manish took the game on and played really nicely."
"I consulted a few other boys, it was talked about (giving Jofra another over up front) but opted against it and in hindsight, after what happened, probably would have given him one more over. It was on my mind," Smith said.
The loss put further dent on RR's playoffs chances as they now have only four wins in eleven matches and stand seventh in the points table.
The team next face Mumbai Indians (MI) in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (October 25).
