Lack of aggression against spinners cost us, says Parag after another game where they ended up losing from a promising situation.
Lack of aggression against RCB spinners was a big factor in the Royals’ fifth straight loss this IPL season.
The skipper of the Rajasthan Royals (RR), Riyan Parag, feels that his team lost another close chase by 11 runs in Bengaluru because his batters did not target the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) spinners enough. Before Yash Dayal defended 16 runs in the final over, Josh Hazlewood let up just one run and removed a set Dhruv Jurel and Jofra Archer on consecutive deliveries, leaving RR needing 18 from the final 12 balls.
After having victory within their grasp, RR has lost three consecutive chases. They needed nine to win from the final over in their previous two games against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), but they lost both times.
Their spinners held RR in check in the middle overs, as Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya each conceded 31 runs in their four overs, while Hazlewood and the other RCB fast bowlers leaked runs at a rate of at least 11 per over. Additionally, Krunal claimed the significant wickets of Nitish Rana in his third over and Parag with his first delivery.
“I think we did really well with the ball,” Parag said after the game. “It was probably like a 210 to 220 wicket. We held them back really well. With our batting halfway through our innings, we were in the driver’s seat. We needed probably eight and a half runs per over in the last 10-11 overs. I think we’ve got ourselves to blame, we didn’t show enough intent against the spinners. We could have executed our batting a little bit better.”
Before Krunal and Suyash entered the game, RR had hammered 87 off the fast bowlers in the first seven overs of the chase. The RR hitters only managed two consecutive fours off five overs against spin after Krunal hit with his opening delivery. By the time Krunal and Suyash completed their quota, RR’s asking rate had risen from 8.72 at the beginning of the tenth over to 11 after 14 overs and 11.50 at the end.
When asked how much of it was a mental challenge, Parag said: “The support staff has given us a lot of freedom. The onus is on the players and ourselves that we need to go ahead and show that freedom and show performances with intent and play freely. It’s a tournament where if you make one slight mistake, you’re gonna pay for it. And that’s what happened today.”