IPL 2021 | We don't play blame games in our franchise, states Kumar Sangakkara

09/30/2021

Kumar Sangakkara has stated that Rajasthan Royals do not play blame games amongst themselves and always stick together as a unit. With RR having lost four of their first 11 games, Sangakkara stated that the team will now focus on training and executing the strategies in remainder of the tournament.

Rajasthan Royals suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday in Dubai. The Sanju Samson-led side were unable to convert a good start and ended up on a total of 149, which the opposition chased with 2.5 overs remaining. The Rajasthan-based franchise now has a bigger challenge ahead of them, as their net run rate is the worst among the teams fighting for the play-offs spot.

After RR's seventh loss of the season, the team’s Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara has said that they don’t play blame games within the franchise and stick as a team.

“We don't play the blame game in our franchise. We win together, we lose together,” Sangakarra said at the post-match media conference. "We haven't done well enough, haven't been smart enough with our batting and we all know that. The players know it. So, we'll try to keep things simple, focus on training and how we plan to execute what we've spoken about," he said in the post-match media conference.

The batting unit of the Rajasthan Royals has been heavily dependednt on skipper Sanju Samson, which remains a major concern for the management. Revealing the environment amongst the team, Sangakkara has said that the team has stuck together as a group.

"There are many ways that you manage the highs of wins and disappointments of a loss and be able to keep yourself calm and focus on what needs to be done. At times like this, it's very easy to be dejected and break up into little groups where murmurings can start but our group has held together really well," he opined.

Explaining his job as the Director of the franchise, Sangakkara stated that he tries to take away the pressure from the players and guide them to come up with their best.

"We always keep things simple. There's a lot of pressure on players that they put on themselves. In the game itself, there's a lot of pressure. My job is not to add to that but guide them (on) how to deal with it and come up with their best performances," he explained.

Skipper Samson has amassed 452 runs from 11 matches and is currently the second-highest run-scorer of the season. The former Sri Lanka captain showered heaps of praises on Samson, saying that he is a very special player and will be selected for the Indian team in the longer run.

"He (Samson) is a very good player, a very special player. He has done exceptionally well for us this season. And I am sure that he has aspirations to play for India and, at some point, I think he will be selected for a longer run. He is good and ready at any-time that he is picked. We do have one-on-one chats on a lot of things. And when we do talk cricket, India’ aspirations come at a time when the IPL is over. And our chats are very-much IPL-focused. Not just his (Samson's) batting but about captaincy, about the team and how we are playing," Sangakkara said.

Rajasthan Royals will next face the table-toppers Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, October 2.