Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson admitted to the game got tensed despite stunning individual efforts from Jos Buttler and Yuzvendra Chahal against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night. Having set a big target of 218 win in their IPL 2022 clash with KKR, RR were pushed to the brink before they finally edged ahead of their rivals by seven runs for their fourth win of the season.
Buttler had set the tone of the contest with an entertaining century – his second of the season. And then RR lost a wicket off the very first delivery of their chase before KKR stormed back into the contest and at one stage, were even favourites.
Enter Chahal for his fourth and final over and he turned the contest on its head with a hat-trick that saw him finish with a five-wicket haul. However, Umesh Yadav struck 21 off 9 to keep the contest alive, not letting RR breathe easy.
“It got tensed,” Samson said at the post-match presentation. “The quality of players made it very interesting. Very happy for the win.”
He added, “There are some things that need to used at the right time. You need to be smart enough to slow it down. I respect KKR as a unit. We never thought we were in the game.”
Samson was all praise for the individual efforts from his teammates that contributed towards the win.
“I think I don’t need to talk much about individuals. We are lucky to have great players. Special mention to (Ravichandran) Ashwin for his delivery to (Andre) Russell,” he said.
