Once you lose five wickets in powerplay, that’s the end of the game: Sangakkara

Rajasthan Royals suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore, being reduced to 28/5 inside the powerplay and then 31/6 by the seventh over. From there on, there was no looking back for Royal Challengers Bangalore as they bundled the Royals for the third-lowest total in IPL history.

Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara was a desolate man following the loss and stated that once the side lost five wickets inside the powerplay, no way they were going to track down the 171-run total. He blamed it on the batters for being too carried away in their approach.

“Yes, it was a poor batting performance,” Sangakkara said in the post-match press conference. “I thought we bowled really well to keep them under 170, which was going to be a good chase on this pitch. We got a little bit carried away in the powerplay, thinking we had to score too many runs there, trying to be ultra-positive. It was a case of trying to build partnerships, but unfortunately, coming out of the powerplay, we were five down, which was the end of the game.”

Sanju Samson tried an across-the-line heave against Wayne Parnell but ended up getting a top edge. The dismissal has become a pattern of sorts, but Sangakkara defended the Royals skipper by saying that it has been one of Samson’s most productive shots, but it didn’t come off against RCB.

“I think that was a shot that Sanju plays often. Sometimes, you don’t miss it, and sometimes, you do. He is an aggressive player and always plays for the side. In T20 cricket, you’re going to get out,” the Sri Lankan legend added.

“Unfortunately, we lost too many wickets in the powerplay. They didn’t us out; we got ourselves out. That was very obvious. I don’t think it is a case of one person or one particular individual, it’s about the whole batting unit. I think we weren’t good enough today,” he added.

For Royal Challengers Bangalore, Anuj Rawat made 29 runs off 11 balls to propel them to 171. That was a big differentiator to allowing them to bowl freely. Rawat contributed his regular practise in the nets to his batting success against Rajasthan.

"When I came into bat...this is what I had practiced for before this season. I was very confident that if I stayed till the end I would certainly make an impact. That's what I did today,” Rawat said in the post-match press conference.