'We were pretty banged up after that': RR bowling coach Shane Bond reveals key reason behind massive loss vs GT

Rajasthan Royals (RR) endured another tough loss, failing to chase 230 runs against Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2026 clash on Saturday, May 9 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

RR stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal won the toss and invited GT to bat. However the decision backfired, as stunning knocks from skipper Shubman Gill (84 off 44) and Sai Sudharsan (55 off 36) powered GT to reach 229/10 at the end of 20 overs.

In response, RR batters failed to capitalise on the flying start given by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who scored quick 36 off 16 with the help of three fours and three sixes. It was Rashid Khan who dismantled RR's batting lineup with a stunning figures of 4/33. Ultimately, RR was bowled out at 152 and lost the game by a massive margin of 77 runs.

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Shane Bond blames RR's scheduling

RR's bowling coach Shane Bond expressed disappointment in the loss. Blaming the side's performance the former NZ pacer noted all the permutation combinations for RR's qualification into the playoffs, saying that the side would need to win the rest of the games to secure a berth.

“It was a disappointing performance from us. This was a really big game for us, with both teams on the same points. I have not seen the table in terms of net run-rate, but we will have to win two of our last three or maybe all three to make it through to the playoffs," said Bond.

While reflecting on the performance, Bond blamed the scheduling off RR games, noting playing a game every three days exhausted the players, which caused a decline in their performance.

The five games we had every three days, I think we were pretty banged up after that. We were not quite as sharp," Bond added.

Big feat for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in IPL 2026

In the second innings, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi batted in the fifth gear right from the first delivery, though his innings came to an end after scoring quick 36 off just 16 with the help of three sixes and three fours at a strike rate of 225.00. During his short stay at the crease, Sooryavanshi managed to create another record in the ongoing IPL 2026 season.

The 15-year-old batter became the first batter to hit 30 sixes inside the powerplay in an IPL season. Earlier the record belonged to Abhishek Sharma, who managed to hit 29 sixes for SRH in the powerplay overs of the 2024 season. However, The star India opener stands at 27 sixes in the powerplay in the ongoing edition.