As India is battling an unprecedented health crisis caused by second COVID-19 wave, Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson on Thursday (April 29) said that the purpose of his side is to play some good cricket in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) to lift the spirit of the entire country.
Earlier, the Rajasthan-based franchise announced a contribution of INR 7.5 crores (over $1mn) towards COVID-19 relief for the fight against the pandemic.
Players along with the team owners and team management have extended their support to raise funds and they have also been working alongside Rajasthan Royals' philanthropic arm Royal Rajasthan Foundation (RRF) in partnership with the British Asian Trust (BAT).
"I think it is the least we can do looking at the financial part. We often talk about the situation throughout the country and the world, I think it is very important for us. We feel very privileged to be out there and play this game. I think we just need to go out there and play some good cricket, we keep having discussions of the purpose of playing this game today. The purpose is to play some good cricket to bring up the spirit of the entire country," said Samson during a virtual press conference after RR’s heavy loss to MI.
Rajasthan Royals suffered their fourth loss in 6 games this season as they went down by 7 wickets against the defending champions in Delhi.
Asked to bat first, RR posted 171/4 in 20 overs on the back of vital contributions from Samson (42 off 27 balls), Jos Buttler (41 off 32 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (32 off 20 balls).
In reply, MI rode on opener Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten 70 off 50 balls and Krunal Pandya’s 26-ball 39 to overhaul the target with 9 balls to spare.
Reflecting on the loss, Samson admitted that they were 20-25 runs short with the bat.
"I think we figured it out, it was a decent wicket, the wicket was fine and the ball was coming to the bat. We were 20-25 runs short, I think we need to play some fearless and positive cricket when we go out there next," the RR captain said.
"I believe it is a funny tournament, funny things have happened in the past, we believe in our players. We know we are going through a tough phase, we know our star players are not available for us. I am proud of my team that we are still talking positively and we are looking to win the coming games," he further remarked.
Rajasthan Royals will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next game on Thursday (April 2) at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
(With ANI inputs)
