Nothing went right for the Royals against the defending champions on their home ground as they crashed with a loss of nine wickets, which also reduced their impressive NRR to 0.448. It was also RR’s biggest joint defeat in Jaipur in terms of number of balls left.
IPL POINTS TABLE | CALENDAR AND RESULTS
Prior to Friday’s debacle, RR was humiliated by the Kolkata Knight Riders in front of their home crowd in 2019. KKR also chased down the modest target with 37 balls to spare as GT did on Friday.
With ten points in as many games, RR will have to pull their socks up if they are to stay in the top 4 and qualify for the playoffs. Last year’s runners-up will be aiming for a much improved performance after back-to-back losses against Mumbai Indians and GT.
Like most teams’ season, RR is also going through its ups and downs. After topping the table for quite a while, the Sanju Samson-led side are hoping to regroup at the end of the league stage.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was sadly run out after a nasty mix-up with his skipper in the last game against GT, would like to extend his dream form against struggling SRH.
Samson looked in good shape but failed to capitalize on a bright start on Friday. Jos Buttler’s form is a headache for the RR team management and Shimron Hetmyer also failed to finish the innings.
The RR bowling attack is a different story.
The spin trio of R Ashwin, Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal managed to control their opponents most of the time. Sandeep Sharma also played well within his limits. However, Trent Boult rode many rides and was not quite able to deliver breakthroughs in the last few outings.
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SRH, on the other hand, managed just three wins from nine draws to occupy second-to-last place in the 10-team contest. They were set to get the better of KKR in their last match in Hyderabad but suffered a painful five run defeat.
The former champions will be looking to come back to winning ways to keep their playoff hopes alive. They have the potential but just can’t click as a unit.
Clock IPL 2023: Rajasthani royals look to arrest slide against Sunrisers Hyderabad
