RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara©Twitter
Rajasthan Royals had an unforgettable night on Friday as they suffered a nine-wicket big defeat in a low-scoring encounter against Gujarat Titans. Playing at Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, RR was bundled for 118, after Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad took three and two wickets respectively. Later, GT chased down the target in just 13.5 over with nine wickets in hand. After their loss, RR players had to face the wrath of their head coach Kumar Sangakkara for not mincing words while criticizing them.
Addressing the team in the dressing room, Sangakkara called the defeat “shameful” and stated that the players need to accept their loss and work harder for the upcoming game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“I know everyone is hurting. The reality is that we played a pi** poor game. The sh**iest cricket we can play, and we did. Agree?. When you think about what happened today, all you want to do is learn from it. It was embarrassing. What the fans are going to think, what the points table shows… it doesn’t change the quality of our squad just because we played an absolutely bad game,” Sangakkara said in a video posted to RR’s Twitter.
On the other hand, we go again in 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/sApOAV4G06
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 6, 2023
“Accept it first. You want to learn, you have to accept that you weren’t good enough. Gujarat outsmarted us, but that’s only today. We have one day to recover, we can keep talking about mistakes we can learn from he added.
New Zealand bowler Trent Boult (15) was Rajasthan’s second highest scorer before being sacked by Mohammed Shami. India’s Shami and Ireland’s Josh Little took two wickets in eight tight overs between them.
Gujarat opener Shubman Gill (36) was removed by leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the 10th over before skipper Hardik Pandya hit an explosive 15-ball 39 not out with three sixes to complete the game in the 14th over. Opener Wriddhiman Saha was also unbeaten on 41.
The victory put reigning IPL champions Gujarat Titans three points ahead at the top of the table after 10 matches.
With AFP inputs
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