BENGALURU: There was a blank look on Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid ’s face. His carefully assembled lineup of batters had made a beeline to the dugout in the death overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru .
The Rajasthan camp was stunned into silence as their batters played out a now familiar script of coming within touching distance of a target before making a mess of the chase.
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At the M Chinnaswamy stadium, it was another case of Rajasthan turning opportunity into disaster. With the team struggling to stay afloat — they have seven losses from nine outings — Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma conceded the team’s inability to close out games under pressure.
“In all three games, we needed nine runs an over. In T20s these days, with the kind of hitting ability we have, that shouldn’t be difficult. But we’re losing wickets at key moments. When we try to accelerate, it’s not clicking. We’re not executing our plans under pressure,” said Sandeep on RR losing three consecutive matches while chasing.
It was a sentiment echoed by Riyan Parag, standing in as skipper for the injured Sanju Samson.
“Halfway through our innings we were in the driver’s seat. We’ve got ourselves to blame. We didn’t show enough intent against spinners. It’s a tournament where if you make a slight mistake, you’ll pay for it. We’ve got to play for pride now,” rued Parag. It wasn’t just their batting. Rajasthan have struggled on the field as well.
On Thursday, they dropped two crucial catches — that of Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal — which turned out to be game-changing moments.
“We haven’t been able to grab the crunch moments, whether chasing or defending. In T20 cricket, every team gets those moments. You have to take them. This year, we’re dropping crucial catches, losing wickets right when we need to push the scoring. That’s been the problem, we’re crumbling under pressure,” admitted Sandeep.
The Rajasthan camp was stunned into silence as their batters played out a now familiar script of coming within touching distance of a target before making a mess of the chase.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
At the M Chinnaswamy stadium, it was another case of Rajasthan turning opportunity into disaster. With the team struggling to stay afloat — they have seven losses from nine outings — Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma conceded the team’s inability to close out games under pressure.
“In all three games, we needed nine runs an over. In T20s these days, with the kind of hitting ability we have, that shouldn’t be difficult. But we’re losing wickets at key moments. When we try to accelerate, it’s not clicking. We’re not executing our plans under pressure,” said Sandeep on RR losing three consecutive matches while chasing.
It was a sentiment echoed by Riyan Parag, standing in as skipper for the injured Sanju Samson.
“Halfway through our innings we were in the driver’s seat. We’ve got ourselves to blame. We didn’t show enough intent against spinners. It’s a tournament where if you make a slight mistake, you’ll pay for it. We’ve got to play for pride now,” rued Parag. It wasn’t just their batting. Rajasthan have struggled on the field as well.
On Thursday, they dropped two crucial catches — that of Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal — which turned out to be game-changing moments.
“We haven’t been able to grab the crunch moments, whether chasing or defending. In T20 cricket, every team gets those moments. You have to take them. This year, we’re dropping crucial catches, losing wickets right when we need to push the scoring. That’s been the problem, we’re crumbling under pressure,” admitted Sandeep.
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