The Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered their first defeat of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season on April 10 (Wednesday). Sanju Samson's brigade was defeated by the Guajrat Titans (GT) in a last-ball thriller by three wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. With GT needing 35 runs off 12 balls, RR looked to prime to make it five wins in as many matches. As it turned out, the Royals' bowlers failed to keep their composure under pressure and let the game slip away from their grasp.
After the game, Samson was quizzed about 'when the game was lost' for the Royals and the RR captain came up with a surprising answer before admitting that it's hard to point the figure at one moment.
"I think the last ball of the game (where was the game lost?). Very hard to speak at the moment," Samson told the host broadcaster, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
"Hardest job in the tournament when a captain loses the game and has to tell where the game was lost. When the emotions come down I'll be able to tell clearly. Have to give credit to the Gujarat Titans. That's the beauty of this tournament. Will have to learn and move on," the RR skipper added.
RR let one slip away
After scoring 196 runs in their allotted 20 overs, the Royals were in the pole position to win another contest. With GT needing 65 runs off 28 balls, it was Rajasthan's match to lose. Kuldeep Sen's 19th over was where the momentum completely shifted, as it produced 20 runs, setting up a nail-biting finale with 15 runs required in the final over for GT to win the game.
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Avesh Khan stepped up to bowl the decisive over, facing Rashid Khan at the other end. Rashid's boundary off the first delivery edged Gujarat closer, leaving them 11 runs short with five balls remaining. As the tension mounted for Rajasthan, Tewatia was dismissed. Ultimately, Rashid Khan clinched the win for Gujarat with a boundary, when they needed two runs from the last ball, ensuring a dramatic 3-wicket triumph.
Samson reckoned that the team had enough runs on the board and that the bowlers failed to do their job properly on the evening.
"While I was batting I thought something around 180 would've been a fighting score. 196 was a winning score I thought. With no dew, our bowling lineup should've done it. It wasn't easy to go hard at the start of the innings. 197 at Jaipur, without dew, we'll take it any day," said Samson.
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