Rajasthan Royals stand-in captain Riyan Parag admitted they fell short by 20 runs after suffering an eight-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Wednesday.
After KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to bowl first, RR could only manage 151-9 on the board as they failed to get going throughout the innings. The inaugural champions kept losing wickets at regular intervals and the batters could not convert their starts.
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 29 runs whereas Riyan Parag added 25 runs. Dhruv Jurel top-scored with 33 runs for the Royals but they could not get enough runs on the board against a quality spin attack.
On the other hand, Quinton de Kock scored a match-winning knock of 97 runs off 61 balls with the help of eight fours and six sixes. The left-hander scored his 24th IPL fifty, reaching the milestone off 36 balls and played a key role in the run-chase.
Riyan Parag said in the post-match presentation, “170 was going to be a really good score, that’s what we were aiming for. I personally rushed a little bit knowing the wicket here. Fell short by 20 runs. That was the plan, to get Quinny out early, but that didn’t happen. So, we shifted to containing in the middle overs. He played really well, so kudos to him.”
Speaking on his batting position of number three, Parag said, “Last year, the team wanted me to bat No. 4, I was happy to do that. This year, they want me to bat No. 3, so I need to be professional to bat wherever the team wants me to, so I am okay with that.”
Parag said they would look to not replicate their mistakes for their next match against CSK.
He concluded, “We have a younger team this year compared to the one last year. It’s just about coming together for a whole match. We are doing very good in small phases. It’s time that we put together a good match and then the results are going to be in our favour. We take the learnings, we take our mistakes, we make sure we don’t repeat them again and come back for Chennai with a fresher mindset.”
Rajasthan Royals will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Sunday.
