Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag admitted they were able to post a par score on the board but they could have executed better with the ball in the middle overs after suffering a seven-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, on Friday.

RR posted a decent score of 225 runs on the board after Riyan Parag got back into form, scoring a fine knock of 90 runs off just 50 balls with the help of eight fours and five sixes.

However, DC were able to chase it down with relative ease after KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka scored 75 and 62 runs respectively. Barring Tushar Deshpande, all the Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers conceded their runs at an economy rate of more than 11.

Riyan Parag said in the post-match presentation, “I think it was a good score. I thought 200 was a par score here. It was going to slow down a bit, but I think we could have bowled way better in the middle overs, not let them get away a little too much. And then a lot of boundaries in one single over and that repeated. So I felt we missed the trick with that, but no harm with the decision we made.”

Speaking on the decision of not promoting in-form Donovan Ferreira, who scored a quickfire knock of 47 runs off just 14 balls, Parag said, “It was actually a lefty idea and I don’t know actually. There were what, six, seven overs to go, or no, eight, nine overs to go? We wanted to delay it slightly, score about 8 or 9 runs off the spinners and then face pace bowling from ball one. I feel that was the plan, nothing much to think about that.”

Speaking on his critics after getting back into form, Parag concluded, “I don’t think I need to answer any critics or anyone talking about it. But at the end of the day, my job is to get two points. So my score and my innings don’t really matter if we lose the game.”

Rajasthan Royals will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, on Saturday.