IPL 2021 | We were shocked to see the ball turn when we batted, expresses Sanju Samson

04/19/2021

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson revealed that he and his teammates were left shell-shocked by the amount of turn CSK generated, and said that RR were expecting dew to play a part. Quite remarkably, the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali struck five times to deflate Rajasthan’s chase.

The last-over-win against the Capitals turned out to be a false dawn for Rajasthan as the Royals slipped to a damning 45-run defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings on a good batting track at the Wankhede in Mumbai. Bowling first, the Royals bowlers did a fine job to restrict CSK to 188, but the batting collapsed inexplicably to hand CSK a convincing win. At 87/2, RR looked on course to chasing the target down, but five wickets in the span of three overs from CSK’s spin twins Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja broke Rajasthan’s back to hand the Royals their second defeat of the season.

Notably, the ball turned a significant amount in the second half of the chase, and Samson, speaking in the post match presentation, admitted that the sharp turn left his side shocked. Samson also expressed bemusement over the absence of dew at the venue.

“We never expected that [the spinners]. The dew didn't come, the ball was turning and that was a bit shocking to see,” Samson said in the post match presentation.

With CSK cruising at 123/3 at one stage, the Royals bowlers did an exceptional job to pull the score back to 188. Samson said that the target was chaseable, and stressed that his side lost the plot in the middle overs.

“I think it was a good score to chase down, but we lost too many wickets in the middle. I think our bowlers bowled really well but they batted very deep. Maybe 10-15 runs extra conceded in the end.”

This was the Royals’ second collapse in as many games, as the side, in their previous game versus Delhi, collapsed to 42/5 before some Morris-Miller heroics took the team over the line. Samson insisted that it would be of paramount importance for RR to maintain their composure as the tournament progresses.

“I think it's very important to maintain a good composure throughout the tournament. This format demands scoring runs at a high risk rate.”

The Royals have a two-day break, post which they will take on table-toppers RCB at the Wankhede.