Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson underlines reason behind loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2
Left-arm off-spinner Abhishek Sharma undid Sanju Samson before he could create an impact on Qualifier 2 with the willow in hand. The Rajasthan Royals captain could only manage 10 off 11 balls during his stay in the middle.
Sanju Samson mentioned that the lack of enterprise against the Sunrisers Hyderabad spinners in Qualifier 2 cost Rajasthan Royals a place in the finals.
Samson, who got out to Abhishek Sharma at an individual score of 10 off 11 balls tried to accelerate but an outstanding grab by Aiden Markram put an end to his stay in the middle.
"I think we were found short of options in the middle overs against spin, and I think that's where we lost the game," Samson said after the loss to Sunrisers.
"Against left-arm spin, we had three-four right-handers in the middle and the ball was stopping. But we could've tried a bit more (options) - reverse-sweep or use of the crease a bit more - and they (SRH) also bowled really well, actually."
Samson admitted that Rajasthan Royals were taken by surprise by the amount of turn that Sunrisers Hyderabad spinners received from the surface due to the lack of dew in the second innings.
"It's actually very hard to guess - when we can expect dew or not [in Chennai]. So, the wicket started behaving differently in the second innings. The ball started turning a bit and they used the advantage and bowled spin in the middle overs against our right-handers and that's where they were one-up against us."
SRH's head coach Daniel Vettori's decision to bring Shahbaz Ahmed in for Travis Head as Impact Player paid dividends for Sunrisers as he claimed three wickets in his miserly spell, including the big wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag.
Shahbaz, alongside Abhishek, bagged five wickets between them and broke the back of Rajasthan's chase.
"Jaiswal getting out at that stage brought the left-arm spinners into the game and after that it was a little difficult, but it was a case of just hanging in there and getting the pace of the wicket again and getting the hang of the bowler," said Kumar Sangakkara, RR's Director of Cricket, in the post-match press conference.
"As Dhruv Jurel showed, if you show intent and if you play smart shots, you can chase a score, but, unfortunately, we weren't good enough on the day. I thought the Sunrisers held in, they batted deep, and their bowlers did a great job for them."