Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson on Sunday credited Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s “better intent” for the visitors’ comprehensive nine-wicket win in the IPL here, though he acknowledged that his side’s 173-run total was defendable on a tacky Sawai Mansingh Stadium pitch. Phil Salt’s explosive 33-ball 65 laid the foundation and Virat Kohli’s 100th T20 fifty provided the finishing touch as RCB chased down what looked like a big target without much ado. “After losing the toss on a slow wicket, 170-odd was a really good score. It was hard to bat in the powerplay,” said Samson, following the team’s second successive defeat.
RCB, though, made merry on the same pitch where the hosts struggled to complete the task with 15 balls to spare and Samson said RR lost the match in the powerplay itself.
“Knew Salt and Kohli would come hard at us. They won the game in the powerplay,” he added, without blaming the several dropped catches by his butter-fingered fielders.
“They (RCB players) dropped our catches, we also dropped their catches. It is okay, they batted better. Have to give it to RCB, their intent was better. Got to say toss helped. I would have liked to take this game to the 19th or 20th over.
“People have been honest in saying they committed some mistakes. We are in a good mindset. We have to put this game behind us, come back fresh,” added Samson.
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar acknowledged the contribution of Kohli, who used his vast experience on domestic pitches to make it a one-sided contest.
“The wicket was not easy to bat, we targeted 150-170. Really enjoyed (Salt) batting from dugout. The way VK (Kohli) bhai rotated the strike was special. We are not a team that looks at venue, we look to play positive and good cricket,” said Patidar.
Devdutt Padikkal, who scored an unbeaten 40 at the back-end and shared an 83-run stand with Kohli, said the win augurs well for the upcoming home game against Punjab Kings on April 18.
“In T20, one or two overs can change the game and that’s derailing the innings. I am sure we’ll translate this (win) at home,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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