Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson believes it was tough for his batting unit to switch from a batting paradise of Abu Dhabi to the slow and low wicket of Sharjah.
RR had chased down 190 runs against Chennai Super Kings with ease when they had batted on the featherbed of Abu Dhabi as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube had played match winning knocks.
However, the inaugural champions could not get going against the defending champions Mumbai Indians at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday as they could only manage 91 runs in their 20 overs. RR failed to achieve any kind of momentum as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
In fact, Rajasthan had got off to a decent start as they were 41-2 after the powerplay overs but lost wickets in cluster. Rajasthan could only manage seven fours and two sixes throughout their batting innings. Furthermore, no batter except for their openers and Mustafizur Rahman scored their runs at more than run-a-ball.
Nathan Coulter-Nile was the chief destroyer as the MI fast bowler scalped four wickets in his four overs and conceded only 14 runs. Furthermore, James Neesham, who was playing his second match of the season, bagged three wickets whereas Jasprit Bumrah bagged a brace.
Sanju Samson said while talking to the post-match presentation, “It was a bit challenging wicket to bat on, it was tougher in the first innings. Coming from Abu Dhabi, playing in Sharjah was a massive difference. Can’t blame the batsmen a lot, but it was tough to bat in the first innings. Abu Dhabi had one of the best batting wickets, switching to Sharjah was tough. Mindset – it’s a bit cloudy right now, we need to take some time off and then think about the next game. We’d definitely like to play a better game of cricket in the next game. We knew that they’ll be coming strong, in the powerplay they wanted to increase the run-rate. The wicket was a bit better than the first innings but they batted really well”.
Rajasthan Royals are all but out of the playoff race as they can get to only 12 points if they win their final league stage match. Furthermore, the Sanju Samson-led team also has a poor NRR and are currently placed in seventh place. MI won by eight wickets and with 11.4 overs to spare and thus RR’s NRR took a blow after a huge defeat.
RR will play their last league stage match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
