“We had very little intent against the two spinners” - Kumar Sangakkara laments RR’s poor batting effort against GT

Rajasthan Royals (RR) director of cricket and head coach Kumar Sangakkara expressed disappointment over the lack of intent shown by his batters against Gujarat Titans’ (GT) spinners. He also lamented the batters’ failure to capitalize on starts.

Gujarat hammered Rajasthan by nine wickets in match number 48 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday, May 5.

Batting first after winning the toss, RR were bowled out for 118 in 17.5 overs as GT spinners Rashid Khan (3/14) and Noor Ahmad (2/25) came up with an impressive performance. In reply, Gujarat romped home in 13.5 overs, losing just one wicket.

Speaking after the disappointing performance, Sangakkara admitted that Rajasthan’s batters were extremely poor on the day.

In a post-match press conference, he commented:

"We were very, very poor in terms of capitalizing on the starts we got. We were showing intent for a while, but we were a little bit reckless, and then we had very, very little intent against the two spinners." Sangakkara added, "Rashid bowled brilliantly, I thought Noor bowled really well as well, but that's the time the batters need to step up and show more and more intent.

"And once that intent is shown, it doesn't matter how good a bowler you are, you are always thinking that you can't give the batter anything loose because you're going to get put away. So that's one area that we've got to really look at."

While being critical of his batters, the Sri Lankan legend hailed the GT spin duo of Rashid and Noor over their fantastic bowling efforts. Sangakkara said:

"You can't sit and wait in T20 cricket and let the bowlers bowl to us. But having said that, both Rashid and Noor bowled exceptionally well and not just that - their pace-bowling quartet came back into the game really well after not having the best of starts. So I think it's all credit to Gujarat, the way they played, and we played a very poor game."

While Rashid dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin, Riyan Parag, and Shimron Hetmyer, Ahmed got the scalps of Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel. For RR, skipper Sanju Samson top-scored with 30 off 20 balls.

---

“All batters go through a cold streak and a hot streak” - Sangakkara defends Buttler, Hetmyer

One of the key reasons RR have struggled lately is that two of their main batters Jos Buttler and Hetmyer have not been among the runs. Buttler has a highest score of 40 in his last six innings, which includes two ducks.

On the other hand, Hetmyer has not reached double figures in his last five visits to the crease. Asked about the duo, Sangakkara said:

"For Jos, he had a great run last season. He started off really well and all batters go through a cold streak and a hot streak. It doesn't reduce the quality of the player and over a longer period of time, you find with highly-skilled players that it all equalizes.

"It's the same with Hetmyer. He's been going through a rough patch after having started well again. But then that's what a team is for. Other batters have to step up the slack and keep going and when they do fire it just adds to the impetus and the totals that we score.”

RR’s loss on Friday was their fourth defeat in their last five games. They next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Jaipur on Sunday, May 7.