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Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara feels his side should have gotten over the line against Lucknow Super Giants after it crashed to a ten-run defeat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Wednesday.
Royals were in control for most of the game, beginning with a sharp bowling performance, which restricted LSG to 154 in the first innings. Their openers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler – guided them to 87 inside 12 overs, as a win looked close to certain before LSG bowlers reined their chase in.
“Our openers put on a good stand. Unfortunately, we lost three wickets in three overs. We still should have gotten over the line. We had enough batting in the shed. Unfortunately, we left it a little bit too late and needed too many boundaries in the end,” said Sangakkara.
“I think we got a better PowerPlay than them. It was all about targeting one or two over. Unfortunately, every time we tried to do that, we lost wickets. It was a difficult wicket to bat on and their [LSG] bowlers bowled smartly,” he added.
‘Idea was to take the game as deep as possible’
LSG’s fighting win was built on a concerted bowling effort, with Avesh Khan leading the line with figures of 3/25. The right-arm pacer was given the task of defending 19 runs off the last over. Despite going for a boundary of the first ball, Avesh held his nerve to help his side to a first win over Royals.
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“Our PowerPlay score wasn’t great. Even in the end, we couldn’t charge up our innings. But once we started bowling, we found out it wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on as there wasn’t any bounce. So, we decided to stick to our plans and defend what we have,” said Avesh.
“We all know in IPL the game can change in one over. Our idea was to take the game as deep as possible. Once we got Sanju [Samson] and Jos Buttler out, we knew we were in this. In the huddle, we were saying let’s get as many dot balls as possible,” added Avesh.
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