Kolkata: It was not a good day in the office for Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in Qualifier 1. Rajasthan lost to Gujarat by seven wickets to miss out on booking a direct entry to the final. Following the loss, Samson complained about the wicket being a little sticky and the swing it was offering in the powerplays. Samson also reckoned that Rajasthan put up a good score and credited Gujarat for chasing it down.
“Felt good to put up that kind of total as I felt the wicket was a bit sticky and there was lot of swing in the powerplay. I think we managed to put in a good score, but I think they played really well to chase the score down. It was a bit two-paced and bounce was also not even, I just went after the bowling from ball one and I got a bit lucky to get a few runs in the powerplay, but wicket was a bit tough to bat on and we finished off really well,” Samson said at the post-match presentation.
On a track that was two-paced, Royals rode on Jos Buttler’s 56-ball-89 to post 188 for six in 20 overs, which seemed like a winning total considering the pressure of the occasion. But Pandya (40 no off 27 balls) and Miller (68 off 38 balls) added 101 runs in exactly 10 overs to seal the deal with three balls to spare.
