IPL 2023: Batters weren’t committed enough to take down Ravi Bishnoi, admits RR coach Sangakkara

Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals head coach and director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara admitted that his batters weren’t committed enough to take the attack to Lucknow Super Giants leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in their ten-run defeat in an IPL 2023 game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

In his four overs, Bishnoi didn’t take a wicket, but gave away only 25 runs. In the 17th over, Riyan Parag and Devdutt Padikkal struggled to score big off Bishnoi, who conceded only six runs to inch Lucknow closer towards victory on a two-paced pitch.

“Unfortunately, we lost three wickets in three overs. We still should have gotten over the line. We had enough batting in the shed. We left it a little bit too late and needed too many boundaries in the end.

At the back end, especially (Ravi) Bishnoi’s last over, we weren’t committed enough to take him down and look for those 3-4 sixes because even if the batter got out at that time, it didn’t really matter,” said Sangakkara in the post-match press conference.

Sangakkara also admitted that Rajasthan didn’t anticipate the pitch would slow down during the match and credited Lucknow for being smart with their line and length in the last five overs.

“We didn’t think the pitch would slow down that much, because yesterday (on Wednesday) in training, the pitch was much better at the back end. It was a tough pitch. I thought Lucknow bowled really smartly. I think we could have probably kept a few boundaries from being hit, especially towards the back end and in the middle with spin,” he said.

Parag’s form will keep Rajasthan worried as the Assam all-rounder has scored only 54 runs at an average of 13.5 and strike rate of 112.5 in IPL 2023. Though, Sangakkara backed him to come good in the coming games.

“In that situation, he can just go out and hit as many sixes as quickly as he can. It’s a very clear plan that Riyan has. We had Dhruv (Jurel) to kind of take care of the place and we just needed 2-3 sixes in the middle overs. He’s been batting well in the nets,” the RR coach said.

“We do back our players quite well especially when he comes in to back up for us or DDP (Devdutt Padikkal) comes in as an impact substitute, looking at the local talent that we have. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been in good form, we will assess that and address them at the training,” he added.

Sangakkara signed off by praising senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for registering figures of 2/23 in his four overs.

“He (Ashwin) is just concentrating on bowling his stock ball, he trusts his variations. He has a great series in terms of Tests, bowled a lot of overs. He understands that the ball is coming out really well,” he said.

“He is getting his under-cutter going and he has got his carrom ball. He is in amazing form for us and I think it is a good lesson for all the bowlers on a pitch like this,” he added.

–IANS