The famous Royals batting team suffered one of the worst slumps and retired for just 59 in the 11th – the third lowest innings total ever in the Indian Premier League.
Faf du Plessis’ RCB won the match by 112 points after posting 171 for five. The visitors finished the opposition in just 10.3 overs with speedy South African Wayne Parnell emerging as the most successful bowler with 3/10 from three overs.
The margin of defeat means the Royals’ net run rate has been badly beaten even though RCB overtook them on the points table to sit fifth with 12 points, while RR, locked on 12 points, fell to sixth place.
The Royals’ batting simply crumbled with the home side down to 5/28 on the power play that they could never recover from.
On the campaign floundering in the second half of the IPL, Samson said: “That’s a great question actually. I was thinking about it and where did it go wrong. Sorry I don’t have an answer to that.”
Four Royals hitters, including flyhalf Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswalwere out for duck, while Sanju Samson could only score four runs.
Samson, however, showed courage saying that the IPL is a tournament where a turnaround can happen within days.
“We all know the nature of the IPL. We know things can change in a few days. Fun and funny things happen at the end of the league stages. We have to be strong, be professional and think about the game that we are playing in Dharamsala. You have to keep your hopes high and give your best,” he added.
The Royals skipper said their strategy of going strong in power plays had come unstuck, adding that his batters had no choice but to take risks as the wicket was going to slow down as they went. as their sleeves progressed.
“We usually go hard in the power play but that didn’t quite happen today. It will take some time to assess our display. It’s the nature of T20 cricket, you have to go hard in the power play, knowing that the wicket will slow down.
“Today it didn’t work out. This (game) could have gone to the wire, it could have been a close game if we had a decent power play. I felt that (RCB’s score) was a normal score on that wicket.”
The RCB du Plessis skipper says the improved net run rate (NRR) after the big win will do his team a lot of good. He added that the pitch was really tough to beat and Anuj Rawat’s later order (29 not out) helped the team go past 160.
“We needed it, in terms of NRR. It was really tough ground when we hit first. Even on the power play the ball was staying low and we thought 160 would be a good score. Those hits towards the end pushed us to a very good score. We didn’t quite manage to do it (finish strong) well.”
(With PTI entries)
