Rajasthan Royals (RR) poor run in the second half of the IPL 2024 continued on Wednesday as they suffered a dismal 5-wicket loss against Punjab Kings (PBKS). The Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati hosted the match.
The Royals batted first in the contest after winning the toss. However, they failed to click a collective unit with the bat, as they could only reach a below-par total of 144/9 in 20 overs. Only Riyan Parag (48) and Ravichandran Ashwin (28) looked in decent touch, while the rest were disappointing. Sam Curran then anchored the chase perfectly for PBKS and steered them to a comfortable victory in 18.5 overs.
RR began the season on a high note, winning eight of their first nine games. They dominated the phase with a constant presence at the top of the points table. Their downfall began with a 1-run loss against SRH in their 10th match this season. The Royals then faltered against DC, CSK, and PBKS, much to the frustration of their fans. They have already qualified for the playoffs, but their current form is a huge concern going forward.
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Fans took note of Rajasthan Royals' struggles after their latest defeat against PBKS in IPL 2024. They expressed their reactions on the matter through their X posts. Here are some of them:
"Pathetic RR .. 4 Losses in a row. It doesn’t look like a team who can win in play-offs. Rajasthan must find a new captain from 2025 season onwards. Sanju’s inconsistency hurting the team. He shouldn’t keep wickets and focus on batting!," a fan wrote.
"unreal bottling by RR in 2nd half of tournament," a fan wrote.
"Win toss, decide to bat, play test in powerplay, throw away game in powerplay itself... Blame is on management with back to back Poor decision by choosing to bat when pitch condition is uncertain," a fan wrote.
"4 consecutive losses, saw no intent in batting in the last two matches. If this is going to continue then it would've been better if we wouldn't have qualified for playoffs," another fan wrote.
"Punjab kings might be the weakest team on the paper but not on the field. Sanju Samson & Rajasthan Royals is struggling with form. Most of the successful franchises peak at the end but Rajasthan always slums that's why no trophy.Sanju needs to fix this," a fan wrote.
"I have a theory about RR Swing in performance in later half every year :- As the tournament progresses & pitch gets slow & low, Rajasthan batters who are mostly stroke makers like Samson, Jaiswal & OS who like playing in pitches which has constant bounce struggle bcoz of that," a fan wrote.
"We have to find out what's not working well"- RR captain Sanju Samson after loss against PBKS in IPL 2024
After the conclusion of the match, Sanju Samson reviewed his team's performance and said:
"It's not a 140 kind of a wicket, we should have easily got above 160 with the batting we have and that is where we lost the game. We have some quality five bowlers which doesn't affect the combination much. To be honest we have to sit back and accept and going through some failures. We have to find out what's not working well.
Samson continued:
"At the business end of the tournament someone has to raise their hand and win it single handedly. It is definitely a team sport but we needs characters to step us. We know it wasn't a high scoring ground. We are not used to playing in these kinds of wickets. We have to play smart cricket and hit the boundaries here and there. Hopefully the result against KKR goes our way."
RR will face KKR in the final league match of IPL 2024 on Sunday (May 19) at the same venue.
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