After an embarrassing performance against the defending champion Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara criticized his team. Rajasthan crumbled while playing the match in the 2023 Indian Premier League due to the spin attack of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed.
Sangakkara’s group failed to beat Gujarat after scoring just 118 runs.
GT chased down the target in 13.5 overs, powered by Hardik Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha, giving them a significant NRR boost in the competition.
Coach Sangakkara of Rajasthan was miffed by the defeat and claimed that the main issue with Rajasthan batters was their lack of interest in playing against spinners. He criticized the team, saying “They shouldn’t have just waited when facing the Afghan spin duo.”
“In 20-over cricket, you cannot simply wait and watch as the bowlers deliver to you. Having said that, both Rashid and Noor’s pace bowling quartet recovered remarkably well from a shaky start to the game.”
“They bowled exceptionally well, and they didn’t just bowl exceptionally well. We played a very poor game, so I think Gujarat deserves all the credit for the way they played, said Sangakkara in the post-game press conference.”
“After losing Jos Buttler in the game’s second over, Sanju Samson gave Sri Lanka a chance to win, but they were unable to take advantage of it, the former player from Sri Lanka discussed.”
“We did a very, very poor job of building off the starts we received. For a while, we were showing intent toward the two spinners, but we were also a little careless, and then we had very, very little intent. “The batters need to step up and show more and more intent at that point,” said the former cricket player. “Rashid bowled brilliantly, and I thought Noor bowled really well as well.”
Rashid, who bowled one of his best spells in the Indian Premier League, was unable to get away from Rajasthan batters on that particular day. Rashid took 3 wickets from 4 overs at a poor economy of 3.5. During his media interview, Sangakkara expressed his displeasure with the team’s intentions.
In Twenty20 cricket, every team, including the defence, must be motivated to score. When under pressure, you can go 4, 3, 2, 1 instead of the sequence of 6, 4, 3, 2. The former Sri Lankan keeper, however, said that you should always be on the lookout for chances to score or, at the very least, get off strike.
“Once that intent is demonstrated, no matter how good a bowler you are, you are constantly thinking that you can’t give the batter anything loose because you’re going to be dismissed. So that’s one area that needs serious consideration, he said.”
With the defeat, Rajasthan missed the chance to climb to the second position in the standings and remained at position 4. They have 10 points after 10 games and run the risk of dropping in the standings.
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