After stunning Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game, Ajinkya Rahane’s Rajasthan Royals were thrashed by Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on 18th April.
Batting first, Riding on Ajinkya Rahane’s quickfire 36 runs off 19 deliveries, RR scored 160 runs. Following the target, Dinesh Kartik’s squad won the match in 18.5 overs with 7 wickets to spare.
Talking about Rajasthan’s performance, Ajinkya Rahane at the post-match conference said, “I thought we were 15-20 runs short. In T20 it’s always not about scoring 180. In this format, fielding is a crucial part. We let ourselves down in fielding. Very disappointing. Game 1 on this pitch and it had very good bounce. Today, the ball was keeping low. But no complaints. I got a good start and it was my responsibility to carry on. We thought 175-180 would have been good on this wicket.”
KKR skipper Karthik had won the toss and invited Rahane’s side to bat first. However, Rahane said it does not make much difference and the intensity of his team was not up to the mark.
“Doesn’t make too much difference. I believe in playing good cricket. The intensity has to be up to the mark. Our intensity was a little bit down today. It wasn’t there. I wanted to keep backing my players. T20 is all about backing your players. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Boys are doing really well. I just wanted to stick to the same combination,” Ajinkya Rahane said.