RR vs PBKS: "Somebody needs to step up" - Sanju Samson after Rajasthan Royals' 4th consecutive IPL 2024 defeat

Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) hosted the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 65th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday, May 15.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat first in the match. In the absence of Jos Buttler, they brought in Tom Kohler-Cadmore and the pressure was on main man Yashasvi Jaiswal to provide his team with a good start but both the openers failed to score. Rajasthan Royals had to promote Ravichandran Ashwin and even use Donovan Ferreira as an impact sub. However, that strategy also failed and RR could only manage to post 144/9 with Riyan Parag (48) being the top-scorer.

With the ball, Rajasthan Royals did well initially and reduced PBKS to 48/4. However, Sam Curran (63) played a stunning knock and along with Jitesh Sharma and Ashutosh Sharma took the game away from RR.

Speaking after the match, Sanju Samson said that they were 10-15 runs short in the match. Sanju Samson said:

"We needed a few more runs. I think we were 10-15 runs short. It was a 160 kind of wicket. We would have easily got more than 160 (had we played better), that's where we lost the game. Would have been nice to have one more bowling option. I am getting used to five quality bowlers."

Sanju Samson admitted that Rajasthan Royals are going through a lean patch and urged his match-winners to step up and show character. Sanju Samson stated:

"We have to sit back and accept that we are going through failures, have lost four games on the trot. Got to find out what's not working out for us as a team. Somebody needs to step up, we have so many match-winners in the team. This is the time we need to show character. We need to score more runs. We thought 160-170 would have been a good score."

Sanju Samson further spoke about the pitch and expressed hope that the upcoming matches will go in their favor. Sanju Samson said:

"We are not used to playing on such wickets this season where 200-plus totals are getting scored easily. We had to play smart cricket and build those partnerships today. Hopefully, the result goes in our way (in the upcoming games.)"

Rajasthan Royals Had Defeated Punjab Kings In Previous IPL 2024 Meeting

In the 27th match of the Indian Premier League 2024, Rajasthan Royals played an away game against Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on April 13. An all-round performance from RR saw the team register a 3-wicket victory with 1 ball remaining.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first. A good performance from Avesh Khan (2), Keshav Maharaj (2), Yuzvendra Chahal (1), Trent Boult (1) and Kuldeep Sen (1) saw the opposition team being restricted to 147/8. For Punjab Kings, Ashutosh Sharma (31), Jitesh Sharma (29) and Liam Livingstone (21) were the top performers in the batting department.

With the bat, Yashasvi Jaiswal (39) and Tanush Kotian (24) took the team off to a decent start. Then, Sanju Samson (18) and Riyan Parag (23) took the team forward but RR kept losing wickets at regular intervals which put them in a difficult position. As the pressure was building, Shimron Hetmyer (27) played a stunning cameo and finally guided his team to a victory. For PBKS, Sam Curran (2), Kagiso Rabada (2), Harshal Patel (1), Liam Livingstone (1) and Arshdeep Singh (1) were among the wickets.