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Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Riyan Parag expressed disappointment over his team's missed catches and sloppy fielding, saying they "dropped a few too many catches" following the team's five-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season on Saturday.
Rajasthan Royals, batting first, scored 228/6 in their 20 overs after a sensational century from 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and a half-century from Dhruv Jurel. However, SRH, with the help of Abhishek Sharma's 57 off 29 balls and Ishan Kishan's 74 off 31, chased the target with nine balls to spare. A defining moment in the match came when Shimron Hetmyer dropped Abhishek, who was playing on four runs off Nandre Burger's bowling. Abhishek immediately made RR regret the mistake, smashing 18 runs off the next five deliveries. Things worsened when Ravindra Jadeja dropped a sitter of Tushar Deshpande's bowling, giving Abhishek another reprieve while he was batting on 30 runs. Nitish Kumar Reddy, who played a crucial knock of 36 from 18 balls, also got a lifeline when RR's Brijesh Sharma dropped a catch, with the all-rounder on 14 at the time. After the loss, Riyan Parag admitted that Rajasthan Royals' poor fielding, including several dropped catches, cost them the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. "Dropped a few too many catches. Quality players like Abhishek; can't drop quality batters. Could have been better on the field. We've got to be clinical. Fielding plays a major part in that. We've got a day's break. Mentally refresh and come back the next day," Parag said at the post-match presentation. Parag also said the team left around 10-15 extra runs while batting first and failed to be clinical in key moments. "We left 10-15 [runs] on the table. To be honest, they bowled well in the 18th and 20th. Executed their yorkers. Would've liked another 15 runs," he said. RR posted a strong total of 228/6, powered by a sensational 103 off 37 balls from Sooryavanshi and a 35-ball 51 from Jurel. Donovan Ferreira also added a quick cameo off 16-ball 33 late in the innings. In reply, SRH lost Travis Head early but recovered strongly as Ishan Kishan (74 off 31) and Abhishek Sharma (57 off 29) put on a 132-run stand, setting up the chase. Despite a few late wickets, Heinrich Klaasen (29) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (36) ensured the required rate stayed under control as SRH completed the chase comfortably in 18.3 overs. (ANI)
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