Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson was shocked after RR’s win over PBKS (Sportzpics)
Sanju Samson admitted that it was a bit ‘shocking’ to see Rajasthan Royals vie for IPL 2023 playoffs berth with the likes of MI, RCB after the kind of start they had earlier this season
Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings to stay alive in the IPL 2023 playoffs race but they missed a massive opportunity to overtake Royal Challengers Bangalore in terms of the net run rate as RR needed to finish the match inside 18.3 overs. Unfortunately, they could only chase down the required 188-run target with 2 balls to spare and now they await their destiny which lies in the hands of Mumbai Indians and RCB.
Both MI and RCB have one game in hand while the Royals played their last league game as they defeated Punjab by 4 wickets in Dharamshala on Thursday, May 19. The victory did not boost RR’s net run rate and as such, they would need the likes of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore to drop points for RR to have any hopes of reaching the playoffs.
Skipper Sanju Samson himself admitted that he was ‘shocked’ to see his side where they were at the end of the league stage but they had nobody else to blame but themselves as they lost many games by the closest of margins, the game against SRH for example where Sandeep Sharma bowled a no-ball on the last ball of the innings and Abdul Samad smashed a six to win the match.
Shimron Hetmyer played a key role in the Royals’ latest win and Samson admitted that they were doing the math and hoped that they would win the game in the stipulated overs to boost their net run rate but it didn’t quite happen.
“I think at the end of the game, when Hety (Hetmyer) was going strong we thought we will finish by 18.5,” said the 28-year-old.
Jaiswal smashed yet another fifty and received plenty of praise for his skipper who has spoken highly of the 21-year-old youngster on multiple occasions earlier this season.
“We have a quality team and it is a little shocking to see where we stand on the table. I have been talking about Jasiwal almost every game. He has shown maturity. It feels he has played 100 T20Is,” added Samson.
“Almost 90 percent of the times we feel Boult will take a wicket in the first over. We were under pressure in the last few games,” concluded the Royals skipper.
Thus, RR will wait to see how Mumbai Indians fare against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 21, while Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Gujarat Titans on the same day.