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Rajasthan Royals stand-in captain Riyan Parag felt his side could have "executed" better during the high-voltage 287-run chase against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the ongoing Indian Premier League on Sunday.
With the odds stacked against them, the Royals' opening pair arrived at the crease looking to achieve the unthinkable. Despite losing Yashasvi Jaiswal (1) and Parag (4) cheaply, Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel waged a war against a star-studded bowling unit. Samson and Jurel tried to bring down Sunrisers' home den by launching a scathing attack after an early setback. They raised a 111-run stand for the fourth wicket to keep the Royals close to the asking rate. However, just when Rajasthan appeared to be in a position to make the hosts worry about their position, Harshal Patel forced the much-needed breakthrough by punching Samson's (66) return ticket to the dressing room. Jurel (70) soon jumped on the bandwagon and joined Samson in the dressing room as the faint glimmer of hope vanished into thin air. "It was tough, just like I expected. Credit to SRH, but we could have executed it better. Will have a sit-down and chat about what we could have done better," Parag said in the post-match presentation. Fortune favoured Parag during the toss as the coin spun in the air and landed in his favour. Considering Hyderabad's placid batting turf, Parag decided to bowl, a "collective" decision of his side, which he felt was the "right" call. "I feel collectively, we took that decision, it was the right decision, but it was about executing better," Parag said when asked about his decision at the time of the toss. "You'd mind if 280 is on the board? At the toss, I said 200 was what I expected, but 220-240 would have been a good score to chase down," he added. Despite succumbing to a 44-run defeat, there were a couple of positives for the Royals to take away from Hyderabad. Samson and Jurel put on a show with the bat even though it came in a losing cause. Shimron Hetmyer (42) and Shubham Dubey (34*) adopted a swift approach even when the game had slipped from their hands. "Quite a few positives, the way Dhruv and Sanju batted was brilliant. And then Hettie and Shubham later on. Tushar bowled really well, and Sandy (Sandeep) Paaji did well. A win or a loss, we take the learnings, and then we forget," he concluded. (ANI)
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