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In a heartbreaker for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), their captain Sanju Samson witnessed a close defeat against the Delhi Capitals (DC) in their IPL 2024 clash on Tuesday, May 7. The match, held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, saw RR fall short by a mere 20 runs. Despite a valiant effort from Samson himself, who was on fire with the bat, the Royals' chase of a daunting 222 ultimately proved too much. The skipper was in top form and looked well on his way to a century, but his dismissal left a big hole in the batting lineup. With Samson gone, the rest of the RR batsmen faltered, leading to their collapse.
Speaking after the match, a disappointed Samson acknowledged the feeling that the game was within their grasp. He admitted that such close defeats are a part of the IPL, but the sting of the loss was surely evident.
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“I think we had it in our hands, it was 11-12 runs per over, it was achievable, but these things happen in IPL,” Sanju Samson said at the post-match presentation.
After winning the toss, RR captain Sanju Samson chose to field first against Rishabh Pant's DC at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. This decision went against the trend at this venue, where teams batting first had emerged victorious in all previous IPL 2024 matches there. Later, Samson explained his reasoning, stating that the pitch conditions seemed more suited for chasing. However, he also acknowledged that they had leaked a few too many runs while bowling, which ultimately proved costly.
“Yes, we are doing both things fine, we would like to stick to what the conditions demand, 220 was 10 runs extra to chase, and if we had conceded a couple of fewer boundaries, we would have made it through. The DC opener (Fraser McGurk) came out and did what he had done throughout the tournament, we still came back well,” Samson further said.
Despite their strong showing throughout the season, this loss marks the third for the RR. However, captain Sanju Samson remains optimistic, acknowledging the need to identify and address weaknesses to ensure a stronger comeback in upcoming matches.
“We have lost three games but all those games have been tight, we have been playing remarkably well, we have to do some fine-tuning and make a comeback, we need to keep the momentum going,” he concluded.
However, despite the loss, RR continued their stay at second place in the points table as they next face defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 12.
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