NEWS
Follow UsWith a comprehensive seven-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Rajasthan Royals (RR) have made it to their first Indian Premier League (IPL) final since 2008.
Jos Buttler's fourth ton of the IPL 2022 season lit up the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday (May 27) as RR chased down 158 quite comfortably. RR's director of cricket was full of praise for the strategy they went in with for the IPL auction, wherein the team's aim was to pick a XI of seasoned players, which has paid off.
"At the auction table, we spent 90-95% of our purse on putting together our first XI. We worked hard on data to work on the players we wanted. We put emphasis on experience at the moment," Sangakkara said after the match.
"We have a spattering of youngsters who will become stars later, but our first XI has a strong share of seasoned internationals.
"Full credit to Giles Lindsay, our analyst, Zubin Barucha and the rest of the staff. Wins don't just happen. It takes a lot of planning, hard work, execution on the field."
Sangakkara also commended the entire team, especially Buttler and fast bowler Prasidh Krishna. "Really tough with the close defeat to Gujarat Titans (in Qualifier 1) but the guys got back up and came back strongly," Sangakkara said.
"Jos Buttler backs his strengths and manoeuvres the bowling to bowl more and more to his strengths. The great thing is he can accelerate anytime. Overall he is a wonderful guy who thinks deeply about his game and himself.
"The entire bowling unit was outstanding. Special mention to Prasidh. We had 16 to defend in the last game, and three sixes by Miller. It can cause a huge dent in confidence. But he was honest, he was great in the nets.
"Then Trent Boult. And Obed McCoy, his mother has been quite ill back home, but he has been able to put that aside. She is recovering well. And Ashwin and Yuzi have run the show."
Skipper Sanju Samson was a young kid when the Royals won their only title back in 2008. He tried to remember where he was when Shane Warne captained the Royals to a memorable win.
"I was playing an Under-16 final somewhere in Kerala when I saw Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir win it for Rajasthan Royals in 2008," he recalled.
After a tough loss against Gujarat Titans, Royals produced a flawless performance. "We used to bouncing back in the IPL. It is a long tournament where you go up and down. The wicket, bowling first, was a bit sticky and helping the fast bowlers. The bounce was good, which made it easier to hit the spinners. But our fast bowlers bowled really well," said Samson.
Player of the match Jos Buttler, who hit a record-equalling fourth hundred of the season, said it has been a tournament of two halves for him.
"I came to the season with very low expectations but a lot of energy. It is very exciting to stand in the final. I had a season of two halves, and had very honest conversations with people really close to me. I was feeling the pressure midway, and it was only about a week ago that I opened up about it.
"It helped me and I went to Kolkata with a freer mind. Sometimes it is not working for me, and there are times when a younger me would have played a shot and come out. But it's something that Sanga has been saying that the longer you stay, you give yourselves a chance to find a way.
"Great excitement to have the opportunity to play in the final of the biggest tournament in T20 cricket. Shane Warne has been such an influential figure for RR. We miss him dearly," said Buttler.
'Sanju has been exceptional'
"Sanju has been exceptional. He started off with quite a tough test last season with a young side and lot of upheaval because of COVID bubbles, tournament of two halves but he has really grown into his role," Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference.
"He is very soft-spoken, very reserved individual. He is exceptionally skilled with the bat. He has shown a lot of passion and hunger to taking on this testing role of captaincy. Wicket-keeping, captaining and being the best batter in your side along with Jos Buttler is not an easy kind of role to fill but he has done it really well this season," he added.
The legendary Sri Lankan feels that Samson has become more aware about his role in the side. "He has become more and more aware of what his role is. His tactical awareness has improved right throughout. He has really trusted his team. The team really looks up to him as a leader," the former Lankan skipper added.
Englishman Jos Buttler has been phenomenal with the bat for RR and is the leading scorer in the tournament with 824 runs from 16 games with four centuries and as many fifties. And Sangakkara said he has never seen anyone bat with such authority in the history of the IPL as Buttler did in the ongoing season.
"It's hard to describe what he (Buttler) has done for us this season in terms of T20 batting. He started off well, he had a little bit of a flutter at one point in the tournament but then he just calmed himself down, had a lot of good conversations rather than just training," he said.
"He accepted that he is mortal, he is a human and can't be at that high level of excellence every single day. He can accelerate at any point, he has got all the strokes. He understands the game really well. I can't remember anyone batting this well in the history of the IPL."
Sangakkara said having a core group of nine players made his job easy. "That's an advantage of having an experienced side. We have a core group of nine players with exceptional experience and skill and around them, we have young guys and some very senior players in the bench. What I have to do as a coach is very little. It is just about being responsible for what has happened, owning it as a unit.
(With inputs from PTI)
