Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson regretted a dismal batting performance against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after his team suffered their second successive defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. Scoring only 152 was not enough as Samson admitted that his team should have got another 15-20 runs against KKR, who chased the target down in the final over of the match, defeating the Royals by seven wickets in their return leg IPL fixture.
"The wicket was a bit slow, but they also bowled really well, but with the kind of batting we had, we would have liked a few more boundaries at the end and finish off a bit better. I think we were short by 15-20 runs," Samson said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Invited to bat first, skipper Sanju Samson smashed seven fours and a six in his 49-ball 54, while Shimron Hetmyer provided late charge with an unbeaten 13-ball 27 as RR scored 152 for five. However, the in-form Jos Buttler, who scored a century against KKR last time around, managed just 22 runs. For KKR, Tim Southee scalped two wickets, while Umesh Yadav, Anukul Roy and Shivam Mavi picked up a wicket each.
Nitish Rana (48 not out), Rinku Singh (42 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (34) chipped in with useful contributions as KKR secured an important win that moved them to seventh on the points table and pushed them back into contention for a playoff spot.
"Having few niggles from the last couple of games, It's feeling good now and I'm recovering well. It's a great effort (with the ball), we showed some real fight in the game and the energy was really amazing. Personally, we should have batted a bit more better. Of course, win the next time for sure. We have to keep on assessing the game and who is batting with you, wickets at the wrong time stopped myself to keep on going with the momentum. Wanted to build up the partnership and when I wanted to go hard I think they bowled really well and we couldn't execute our shots," Samson added.
