Rajasthan Royals suffered their first loss in the tournament after losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by 37 runs on Tuesday. Chasing a challenging 174-run total, Rajasthan Royals couldn’t start off as well they lost Steve Smith as early as in the 2nd over of the innings.
High flying Sanju Samson was put to the ground even as Jos Buttler failed for the second consecutive time. The Indian speedsters i.e., Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi broke the back of Rajasthan as they took the important wickets of Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, and Robin Uthappa. Rajasthan managed to score 137 runs in the second innings, thereby handing a 37-run victory to KKR.
After the match, Steve Smith expressed his disappointment while stating that they would look to rectify the errors and come stronger in the next game.
“Didn’t quite go to plan. That happens in T20 cricket sometimes, we have a few areas to improve on, and keep moving forward. You could go one way or another (with the toss). KKR like to chase, so we planned to put their death bowling under pressure but obviously couldn’t do that as we lost too many wickets upfront.
Steve Smith admitted that the fact they didn’t read the conditions properly and would look to play the best XI according to the conditions.
Few of us still thought we were playing in Sharjah. It did (feel a lot different), the far side is a very big side and we didn’t see too many balls going there and the other side is slightly shorter.We probably didn’t adapt to the dimensions and the wicket, also dropped a few catches which cost us. It is about forming whatever XI is best for the conditions we are facing, we will wait and see.
Rajasthan Royals will face off Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 15th match of IPL 2020 on Saturday. They are currently sitting at the third position in the points table with 2 wins in 3 games.
