Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson avoided blaming his bowlers for the 7-wicket defeat against Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first qualifier of the ongoing IPL 2022, but spoke about the pitch at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, saying it was tough to bat on.
On May 24, batting first, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) posted a strong total of 188/6 on the board against the Gujarat Titans (GT), thanks to valuable contributions from Jos Buttler (89) and Samson (47).
Defending the total on the tricky Eden Gardens pitch, RR bowlers found it tough to stop GT’s David Miller (68*) and Hardik Pandya (40*) as the duo took away the game from Samson’s team with three balls to spare. There were only two wickets that fell in the second innings at Eden Gardens.
After losing the match by 7 wickets to put themselves in a tough situation to win the eliminator to make it to the IPL 2022 Final, Samson said that his batters did a great job, as it wasn’t easy to post such a target on the tough wicket.
However, the skipper noted that the pitch favored the batters a lot in the second innings, and that’s where RR lost the match to GT.
Sanju Samson said in a post-match presentation: “Felt good to put up that kind of total as I felt the wicket was a bit sticky and there was a lot of swing in the powerplay. I think we managed to put in a good score, but I think they played really well to chase the score down.
It was a bit two-paced and the bounce was also not even, I just went after the bowling from ball one and I got a bit lucky to get a few runs in the powerplay, but the wicket was a bit tough to bat on and we finished off really well.”
IPL 2022: ‘Exceptional in terms of finishing’, Mike Hesson lauds Dinesh Karthik’s exploits for RCB
The skipper further said, “Scoring that kind of a total on this wicket in these conditions, against that bowling attack was a great performance by our batters. We have been doing really well, the five bowlers have been our main bowlers and they have done really well throughout the tournament. We felt it was a bit better to bat in the second innings as it came on nicely onto the bat.”
He concluded, “We have been playing some really good cricket throughout the tournament, a couple of overs here and there, a couple of extra runs, a couple of off-rhythm by a couple of our bowlers, we will try to come back and play some good cricket. In this format luck (the toss) plays a huge role, so it all comes down to what you want to do in your control. Hoping for a good result in the next game.”
(With ANI Inputs)
