Kumar Sangakkara, Rajasthan Royals' director of cricket has revealed the wrong call they took during the game against LSG.
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Lucknow Super Giants needed 15 runs to register their fourth consecutive victory in IPL 2022. With Marcus Stoinis coming in at No.8 and was unbeaten on 28 off 12 in his first match this season for LSG, Kuldeep Sen handed over the huge responsibility to defend the needed runs in his first IPL game. He restricted Stonis from hitting big. Sen bowled three dots in between and helped his side register a three-run win and placed at the top of the table. However, after the game, Kumar Sangakkara, RR’s director of cricket opened up on this.
“I had no conversation with Kuldeep before the last over,” said Kumar Sangakkara. “It was Sanju, Jos and the other players around him that supported him. We had pretty simple plans in terms of bowling at the death. I just want to say how impressed everyone, especially I am with how Kuldeep Sen handled his first game; how he bowled, how he thinks… He bowled the hardest over under pressure and did an excellent job for us.”
Meanwhile, Sangakkara also commented on Ashwin‘s decision not to continue in the final over and Riyan Parag ended up scoring eight off four balls as well. And, the veteran stated that they took a wrong call by sending Parag lower down the order.
READ MORE: IPL 2022 RR vs LSG: Yuzvendra Chahal, Shimron Hetmyer guide Rajasthan Royals to three-run victory
“It was the right time to do that,” said Kumar Sangakkara of Ashwin’s decision. “Ashwin himself was asking from the field as well and we had discussed just before that as to what we would do. As the coach I got one call wrong not sending Riyan Parag ahead of Rassie van der Dussen and holding Rassie back so we couldn’t get the full benefit of Riyan, but how Ashwin handled that situation, walking in under pressure, he batted, supported the team and then finally sacrificed himself in terms of retiring himself out and then backed it up with a magnificent bowling effort. And of course Boult. Yuzi Chahal, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Sen all of these bowlers were outstanding under pressure with the dew.”
Meanwhile, RR bowlers did a great job as LSG were at 101 for 6 when Quinton de Kock got out and they were looking like winning the game too. But some restricted bowling from LSG dragged the game out till the final over. Stoinis remained unbeaten on a 17-ball 38 in the end as well.
“I’m very happy with the way we’ve been playing. The five games have gone down to the wire. Sometimes we’ve been behind the game and we’ve really found a way to stay in the contest and give ourselves a chance to win,” Rahul said. “Here again today, we didn’t start that great with the ball but we came back well and if not for Hetmyer’s innings, we would’ve restricted them to 110-120. But again, that’s how the game goes – a few errors in the field, mistakes with the ball, few mistakes with the bat in a couple of games that hasn’t really helped but otherwise I think we’re all confident and relaxed in the dressing room.”
“We’re a team that’s going to give it 200% in the field and regardless of the result we’ll keep trying hard and giving our best each game. Most times we’re confident the result will go our way but sometimes we will have games that we end up on the losing side. We’ll learn from it and losses like this bring the team together and it’s a good reminder for all of us to stay humble and keep working hard and enjoy every game,” he concluded.
