Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith lamented RR’s inability to improve their game under pressure after his side was outclassed by Delhi Capitals in Sharjah on Friday. Smith also pointed that the Sharjah wicket wasn’t as good for batting as earlier games, which saw some high-scoring thrillers.
Jofra Archer (3/24) led the way as Rajasthan Royals (RR) restricted Delhi Capitals (DC) to 184/8. It was the first time this season that a team batting first in Sharjah did not score more than 200 runs. However, Kagiso Rabada (3/35) and R Ashwin (2/24) led Capitals dismissed Rajasthan Royals for 138 in 19.4 overs to claim their third consecutive win in the IPL 2020.
“I think the wicket did slow down a bit, probably it was not that good as it was in our first two games, but having said that, we probably let them off the hook in the first innings, we probably let them get 10-15 too many. During the chase, we lost wickets again, I got out, we just kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, and chasing 180 odd on a wicket that has slowed up is not easy. We always knew 180 would be a tough chase, we needed to string together partnerships but we were not able to do that,” Smith said during the post-match press conference.
“Fielding has been disappointing so far throughout this tournament, so it was pleasing to see a couple of good catches and pull off two run-outs, it was nice to see that it has stepped up a little bit,” Smith commented on the fielding effort of the side.
“Rahul Tewatia bowled really well, he summed up the conditions nicely, he was able to read the batsmen, he did a terrific job with the ball, he hit a few in the middle with the bat in hand, he is a valuable player for us,” Smith said while talking about Rahul Tewatia.
“There are plenty of areas that we need to work on, our batting has not been good enough, our top-three have not scored big runs in the last three games and that has been disappointing, there is some execution stuff with the ball as well, it is not an easy game, after all, we are doing something wrong and that is hurting us,” Smith signed off.
