After suffering a heart-breaking four-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday, Rajasthan Royals’ leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has asked his team to forget the defeat as soon as possible.
Despite opener Jos Buttler‘s stunning 95 off 59 balls and captain Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 66 which helped Rajasthan to post a massive 214/2, it was insufficient for them to avoid their fifth loss in last six matches as Abdul Samad hit a last-ball six on a free hit to clinch a nail-biting victory.
“It will take time (to overcome the loss). But still, three matches are there, and if we win our remaining three games, we are still in the chance for reaching the play-offs. It is part of the game. We will storm back together. The sooner we will forget this match the better it will be for us,” he said in the post-match press conference.
Chahal was the pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan, emerging with impressive figures of 4/29 in four overs, including two wickets in the 18th over. It took Chahal’s tally to 183 wickets in the IPL, becoming the joint-highest wicket-taker in the league’s history, alongside Dwayne Bravo.
“The talk was around not giving easy boundaries and try to take out wickets. I was just backing myself and my strength. I was focusing more on my length and don’t want to bowl it too fuller,” he added.
Chahal signed off by saying Rajasthan’s ploy to use West Indies left-arm pacer Obed McCoy came due to his tall height and slower deliveries in his repertoire however, McCoy was handed only an over to bowl, where he leaked 13 runs.
“Obed was bowling very good in the nets and with the wicket especially being on the slower side, we knew that Obed had good slower deliveries in his arsenal and can use his height too, so that’s why he was used as impact player.”
Rajasthan’s next match in IPL 2023 will be against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.