PBKS vs RR: I Had Said Actually That We Wanted To Chase In Some Games And Win It - Sanju Samson Says After RR's Win Over PBKS

Sanju Samson was all smiles after Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 6 wickets in the 52^nd match of the IPL 2022, which was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This win took RR’s tally to 7 wins from 11 matches and 14 points, while PBKS now have 6 losses from 11 matches and are almost out of the playoffs race.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) won the toss and Mayank Agarwal decided to bat first in the day game. PBKS went in unchanged, while RR brought in Yashasvi Jaiswal for Karun Nair in their playing XI. They put on 189/5 in 20 overs.

Rajasthan Royals had never won a game chasing in this IPL 2022, but all that changed in this match as Yashasvi Jaiswal led from the front with a fine knock of 68 runs in 41 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. Devdutt Padikkal struggled for rhythm in the middle order for his 31, while Jos Buttler gave a flying start to RR with 30 in 16 balls at the start.

But apart from Jaiswal, it Was Shimron Hetmyer, who took over and made 31* in 16 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes, as Padikkal tried his best to force the pace to his game. In the end, RR won the match by 6 wickets in hand.

Sanju Samson, the winning captain of RR, had this to say in the post-match presentation:

“We all know Yashasvi Jaiswal can play some good innings. He spent some quality time practicing, spending losts of hours in nets. We knew he was due to runs and we’re very happy for him.

(On chasing) I had said actually that we wanted to chase in some games and win it. Happy to chase as it was a really good wicket. Really great intent shown by our batsmen. I think I have been learning a lot and things are getting clearer. Having the same side for almost every game, same bowling lineup helps to identify the situation, the batsman and the field dimensions. You need to keep changing bowlers as per situations.

It is not set that only fast bowlers need to bowl deeper. Any one having a good form can do the job for the team. Chahal has even said that he’s ready to bowl the 20th over, he’s confident and doing well for the team.

On batting at no.3, Samson said that: “I wanted to go out there and express myself and play some shots and enjoyed it. We have talked about playoffs qualification and mindset of the team in meetings going into the business end of the tournament. It is important to come back to the basics when things get busy and focus on one game at a time. We need to give each and every game importance and do our best and then see what happens at the end of the league stage.”

Jonny Bairstow Find Form But His Knock Goes In Vain

Earlier, Mayank Agarwal chose that Punjab Kings will bat first as he called correctly at the toss and Jonny Bairstow found some form, hitting 56 in 40 balls with 8 fours and 1 six. Bhanuka Rajapaksa made 27, while Jitesh Sharma remained unbeaten on 38 in 18 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes as PBKS managed to put 189/5 in 20 overs, which proved to be inadequate.

For RR, Yuzvendra Chahal continued his premier bowling form, taking 3/28 in 4 overs.

With this win of RR and the loss of PBKS, Mumbai Indians (MI) were officially knocked out of the IPL 2022 playoffs contention.

Also Read: IPL 2022: Got Less Wickets This Year Compared to Other IPLs – Rashid Khan