MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) captain Sanju Samson considered his batters’ inability to score boundaries in the death overs on a slow pitch as the reason for his side’s seven-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Monday.
Samson said with his batters failing to master the KKR bowling on a slow track at the Wankhede Stadium, they fell short by 15-20 runs.
“I think the wicket was a bit slow and they bowled really well, but with the batting we have, I would have liked to score a few more boundaries at the end. I think we were short 15-20 runs,” said Samson in the post-match presentation on Monday.
Though his team lost, there were some positives for the Rajasthan Royals skipper as Samson (54) scored his second half-century of this IPL.
The RR skipper said he was troubled by a niggle but has recovered from it.
“I have had a niggle the last few games but I’m recovering well and (my back) is fine,” he said.
Another heartening aspect of the match for Samson was the fight his team put up while defending the modest total.
“It was a great effort (in the field). With the bowling and fielding, we showed some real fight. The body language and energy were amazing. I think we could have batted a bit better,” he added.
Samson said he could not accelerate in the death overs because of the loss of wickets at regular intervals.
“Wickets at (regular) intervals, that’s what stopped me to keep going with the momentum. When I wanted to go hard, they bowled really well and we couldn’t execute our shots,” Samson said.