Published: May 19, 2025, 12:59 PM (IST)
Edited: May 19, 2025, 12:59 PM (IST)
Even though they got a spectacular start from their openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced yet another failure as they did not manage to chase down the target of 220 set by Punjab kings (PBKS).On this performance, RR head coach Rahul Dravid stated that he does not have anything to blame the batters, but he is not happy with the way bowlers were not able to take wickets and gave out more runs than needed.
“There’s no point just blaming the batsmen. To be honest, this wicket I didn’t think it was 220 wicket… It was about 195-200 wicket and we gave 20 runs extra also,” Dravid said in the post-match press conference on May 18.
“If we look at the statistics of the entire season, we haven’t been able to do well in bowling, neither in taking wickets nor in controlling the runs. We are chasing in nine out of 10 matches, and every time the target is 200-210-220. Even then, our openers are giving us a good start, but we aren’t able to finish the run chase. So we have to work on these things next season, on the bowling, even in the fielding, where we are missing catches,” Dravid explained.
Rahul Dravid also admitted that the finishers lack the ability to do well, but also pointed out that they have not been far away from winning a few close matches. He once again pointed out that the team gave out 15-20 extra runs.
“It’s been a tough one. We’ve got close, but we haven’t been able to finish the job. It’s been one of those kind of seasons where you always feel with the ball that we probably give 15-20 runs extra and then you’ve got yourself in some really good positions to win the games, but we haven’t been able to finish the job and a little bit around that lower, lower-middle order we just haven’t been able to click and get the big shots that we need,” he said.
“I mean, it’s been five games now where the margins have really been one or two hits, which you need in that phase, which we just haven’t been able to do. So it’s not that we’ve been losing too many wickets, we’re still only five down today, but we just haven’t been able to hit those shots,” he further added.
With this match, Rajasthan Royals have played 13 of their matches- losing 10 of them. Their last clash of the season is against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which will be held on May 20 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
