Follow UsRajasthan Royals recorded a four-wicket win against Punjab Kings in the last over of the innings to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the playoffs at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday, May 19.
After opting to field first, the Royals managed to restrict the home team to 187 for five in their quota of 20 overs, with Navdeep Saini scalping three wickets.
In reply, the visiting side were off to a dismal start as Jos Buttler was dismissed for a four-ball duck, his fifth in the season. However, Devdutt Padikkal walked in at number three and steadied the innings along with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The duo smashed half-centuries and added 73 runs for the second wicket to lay a solid foundation for the Royals. In the post-match press conference, Padikkal admitted to having an inconsistent run this season and said, "Honestly, even I don't know what the difference has been. It's been one of those seasons where I have been up and down personally."
"It's not been up to the standards that I would have hoped for. Again, every season that I come into the IPL, I just want to learn. I am still young, and I am looking to pave my way in this game."
"There's a lot to learn - batting at numbers three, four, five, six. I have done it all this season and I am really happy that I am learning with every single opportunity I get," he added.
Rajasthan needed to win this clash in 18.4 overs to go over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Net Run Rate. However, they managed to win it in the last over, which means if Bangalore lose and some results go in their favour, then only the Royals have a chance to qualify for the final four.
"We were aware of that, but, at the same time, we had to make sure that we won the game first. It was a close game. In the end, we had to make sure we got that victory and not think too far ahead."
"At the end of the day, that's in our control. What happens in the RCB game is up to them. We did what we could. We both bat pretty well with each other whenever we have got an opportunity, and we knew at what point who is playing the ball better and hitting the ball better."
"We were just looking to build a partnership. Whenever you lose an early wicket, you have to make sure that you take some time and just put the bad balls away. We were happy that we could push that partnership as long as possible," he added.
The 22-year-old was honest in sharing his views on the performance of the Royals this season and said, "We started off pretty well, and as the tournament progressed, which is always the case in IPL that you go through some patches."
"We lost that momentum through the middle of the tournament, and when we do lose that, it gets really hard to come back. But we did a really good job coming to the end of the season and played some really good games. Overall, everybody has chipped it at some point, and everybody has contributed and tried their best."
"At times, things do not go your way and we lost a few close games, which always hurt us because you feel like that could have made a difference at the end of the day," he concluded.