IPL 2018: We Thought the Rahul Catch was Clean - Ajinkya Rahane

With six defeats in nine games, Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals took a beating against an influential and prolific Kings XI Punjab unit in Indore.

A target of 153 against one of the strongest batting units in this year’s IPL demanded a special effort from the bowlers in blue.

Instead, Punjab cruised to victory with eight balls to spare. Reflecting on the loss, which now makes things pretty tough for the Royals, Rahane said they were 20-odd runs short on a wicket that wasn’t tailor-made for batting.

Having scored just five runs, the skipper took the blame on himself and addressed the collective failure with the bat.

“It wasn’t easy to bat on here, but we needed 170-175. We need to learn from this, it’s our ninth game, the bowlers are doing well but the batsmen, including me, haven’t performed well enough,” says Ajinkya Rahane after getting served a six-wicket loss in Indore.

The controversial moment

The game was halted at a certain point, as the third umpire had a tough job to make a call on what looked like a spectacular catch by Sanju Samson.

Rahul, who was batting on 41, guided the ball to backward point only to see Samson diving to grab the ball. The on-field umpire’s soft signal was not out, and the verdict was passed on to the third umpire.

Numerous replays suggested the ball might have just touched the ground and therefore the decision went in the batsman’s favour.

“We are all professional cricketers. Most of the guys have gone through these situations and know how to comeback. Most of the guys, I think, have been unsure about going for the big shots. But if you have conviction, you will succeed. From our point of view, we thought the Rahul catch was clean. But the umpires thought it wasn’t, And that’s the way it goes. We’re still in the game; we need to win five out of five” Rahane added.