Following their fourth straight loss against Punjab Kings in Guwahati, captain of the Rajasthan Royals Sanju Samson said his club is “going through failures” that must be fixed right now.
Although they had dropped three straight games before into Wednesday’s contest, the Royals had set the early pace in the tournament by winning eight of their first nine games. Samson was more direct in his evaluation following the Royals’ five-wicket loss to the Chennai Super Kings, despite his earlier insistence that the team was still playing “decent cricket” and “following the process” following the Royals’ Sunday setback.
“To be honest, we have to sit back and accept that we’re going through some failures,” Samson stated. “You have to identify the issues within the team when you lose four games in a row. Someone has to put up their finger and declare, “I am going to win the game for the team,” when the season is nearing its business end.Although this is a team sport, each player must step up because our team has many match-winners. Therefore, it comes down to having the ideal characters who can play with zeal and win the game for us on their own.
It would be different if we all tried it and even a few [of players] were able to step up. Characters who can carry us are what we need.”
On a wicket pitch that “wasn’t very high-scoring,” Samson said, the Royals decided to bat in their first-ever home game in Guwahati this season. Samson stated that they only managed 144 for 9, which was at least 20–30 runs less than what he would have preferred.
“To be honest, we were hoping for a better wicket. With our bats and power, we might easily reach 160 or 170 wickets instead of 140.
Considering that teams have been scoring 200 or 220 this season, we are not accustomed to playing in these kinds of wickets. We needed to play strategic cricket, concentrate on the fundamentals, gather momentum, and occasionally hit boundaries.”
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Royals were held to 141 for 5 on a sluggish pitch in Chennai, where they had also struggled batting first.
Although Samson expressed “relief” that the Lucknow Super Giants had lost to the Delhi Capitals on Tuesday, which allowed the Royals to advance to the playoffs, their loss to the Kings has left them susceptible to both Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. These groups might also overtake the Royals in net run rate and draw even with them on 16 points.
The top-seeded Kolkata Knight Riders will play the Royals in their last league encounter on Sunday in Guwahati.