IPL 2018 | Batsmen will have to take responsibility, says Ajinkya Rahane

Rajasthan Royal’s winning streak of three matches was ended by KKR in Eden Gardens on Tuesday.  

Batting first, RR started off briskly with 63 for no loss in 4.5 overs, courtesy to 27 from Rahul Tripathi and 39 from Jos Buttler. However, RR couldn’t capitalize on their good start and were halted from the introduction of Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with his career-best IPL figures of 4 wickets for 20 runs and helped KKR contain Rajasthan for 142 in 19 overs. 

Rajasthan skipper, Ajinkya Rahane was disappointed from the team’s performance and felt that the batsmen should have taken the responsibility. He insisted that the team should not always be dependent on Jos Buttler and all the batsmen should contribute.  

"The intent was positive (from the team). Jos (Buttler) and Tripathi batted really well and when I went in I just wanted to carry the momentum forward. Jos was batting really well and it's not just up to him all the time. Batsmen will have to take responsibility. We have to blame all the batsmen and we lost because we played badly," Rahane said after the match as quoted by India Today.

KKR too were off to a flying start, before Ben Stokes, who took 3 wickets for 15 runs and put brakes on the scoring by dismissing Sunil Nairne for 21 runs and Robin Uthappa for 4 runs. Ish Sodhi too bowled a good spell taking 1 wicket for just 21 runs, however, Chris Lynn, who scored 45 and Dinesh Karthik with 41 not out guided the team to the victory. Rahane felt that 20-30 runs more would have been sufficient and pointed out that they still have a chance to qualify so they should work on their future games.

"I felt our bowlers bowled really well. 170-180 would have been very good. We still have a chance. We have to learn from this game and move forward. We know how the wicket will play in Jaipur, so we have got to learn and move forward," Rahane said.

Rahane felt happy for Jos Buttler, who got picked in the Test squad against Pakistan, but admitted that Stokes and Buttler would be missed in the remaining part of the tournament. Stokes and Buttler left for England for the preparation of the Test series against Pakistan. 

"We will definitely miss Jos and Stokes but as a cricketer I really feel happy for Jos that he has been picked in the Test squad. As a player you feel really happy when you are to play the Test matches," he said.