Sanju Samson was a disappointed captain as Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered another narrow defeat, this time against Delhi Capitals (DC), at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday (May 7).
Asked to bat first, DC racked up a formidable total of 221/8 in 20 overs. While Abishek Porel (65 off 36) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (50 off 20) slammed half-centuries at the top, Tristan Stubbs (41 off 20 balls) returned with explosive knock in the death overs.
In response, Rajasthan could only manage 201/8 despite Samson's valiant 86 off 46 balls. Kuldeep Yadav starred with the ball for DC, claiming two wickets by conceding 25 runs in his four overs.
Following the game, Sanju Samson highlighted the urgency to turn close encounters into wins in upcoming fixtures.
"I think we had it in our hands, it was like 11-12 runs per over, it was achievable, these things happen in IPL. Yes, we are doing both the things fine, we will like to stick to what the conditions demand, 220 was 10 runs extra to chase, the DC opener came out and did what he does, we still came back well," Samson said after RR’s 20-run defeat at the hands of DC.
"We have lost three games but all those games have been really tight, we have been playing remarkably well, we have to do some fine-tuning and we need to keep the momentum going. Yes and No actually, you have to give credit to someone like Stubbs who batted well against Sandeep, he scored 2-3 sixes extra against my best bowlers who are Yuzi Chahal and Sandeep Sharma. We have lost the game, we have to find out where we lost the game, we need to keep moving," he added.
On the other hand, DC skipper Rishabh Pant was pleased with the way his bowlers managed to execute their plans at the back end of RR’s innings.
“The way our bowlers executed at the back end was the main positive and it was really good to see. We will try to learn from every game. Even when we lose or win, we will keep our head down and keep moving forward. As always Kuldeep delivered which was great to see. It was close to par and at the same time we were thinking that if we can restrict them to 200 that would be fair and that was the thought process,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.
With this outcome, Royals remain at the second position while the Capitals move a step up to the fifth place in the 10-team points table.
