Published: Apr 25, 2025, 06:53 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 25, 2025, 06:53 PM (IST)
Former India cricketer Amit Mishra was disappointed with Rajasthan Royals stand-in-captain Riyan Parag, who blamed his batter for not performing against Royal Challengers Bengaluru spinners on Wednesday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Despite being on a strong position in the match while chasing the target of 206 runs, RR fell short by 11 runs, which eliminated them from the race of IPL playoffs.
RR required 18 runs from the final two overs with five wickets in hand, but the game turned dramatically when they lost Dhruv Jurel and Jofra Archer on consecutive deliveries, managing just a single run in the 19th over bowled by Josh Hazlewood. Yash Dayal sealed the match in the final over by taking the wicket of Shubham Dubey.
After the match, RR skipper Parag said that the middle order, including Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer, didn’t show enough intent against RCB’s spinner Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma.
“We did really well with the ball. I thought it was a 210-215 wicket, we held them back really well. Halfway through our innings we were in the driver’s seat. We’ve got ourselves to blame. Didn’t show enough intent against spinners,” Parag told the broadcasters.
Amit Mishra remarked that Riyan Parag should reflect on his shot selection rather than placing blame on his teammates.”You had the match in your grasp but the extra runs that you gave… if you take out the 14 wides that they bowled, they would have won,” Mishra said on Cricbuzz
“You yourself made a mistake in the crunch situation. How can you blame the others? It’s not like you were too far behind the game. You were always in the game. You didn’t lose by 40-50 runs. It was a close match.” Mishra added
“You could have won with an over to spare if you hadn’t got out at the wrong time. The kind of shots that you are attempting in a crunch situation, those could have been avoided. You should have thought of taking the match deep and finish it,” Mishra said
Parag, who made 22 runs off 11 deliveries, was dismissed attempting a slog sweep against the turn on Krunal Pandya’s very first ball. At that point, RR’s scoring rate was above 12 runs per over.
