Rajasthan Royals (RR) players.
With a thumping 60-run defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday, Rajasthan Royals (RR) were eliminated from the playoffs race of the on-going IPL 2020. Chasing down a daunting total of 191 runs, Royals slumped to 32/3 in the first three overs. The Royals batting unit suffered a debacle and lost first five wickets in the powerplay itself, reducing their chances of sealing a victory.
After suffering early blows, Jos Buttler (35) and Rahul Tewatia (31) stitched vital knocks but it wasn't enough to sail RR past the finishing line. In the end, they managed to post a meagre 131-run total in the stipulated 20 overs.
Reacting to their disappointing loss, RR head coach Andrew McDonald admitted that it was a below-par performance from them. He said that the team never got going and Cummins' spell put them on the backfoot.
"It was below-par performance and below what we'd expect. In the last couple of games, we've chased down big totals and today we never really got rolling. To lose five wickets in the powerplay generally puts you on the backfoot. We never really gave ourselves a chance to build a foundation and chase down the total," said McDonald in the post-match press conference.
"Pat Cummins's first over was interesting - 19 runs with a wicket. And then he got another couple of wickets on the back of that. We can't pinpoint an exact reason. We thought we had the best of conditions in terms of the dew. We thought we gave ourselves a good start and it was a total we should have chased," he added.
McDonald feels that 'inconsistent' performances have been the main reason behind RR missing the playoffs berth this year.
"Some of the cricket we played throughout the tournament was inconsistent. There were a couple where we could have clearly won. Looking back at the RCB game, AB took that game away. Against Delhi also, we weren't able to chase it down," said the coach.
