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The Director of Cricket and Head Coach of Rajasthan Royals, Kumar Sangakkara, lost his cool during the post-match press conference after his team's defeat against the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2, which resulted in their elimination from IPL 2026.
Sangakkara was answering a question of player unavailability, and he mentioned English all-rounder Sam Curran, who is currently leading Surrey in the T20 Blast 2026. He has played three matches for Surrey this season. "We were told that Sam Curran had a season-ending injury, but I think I saw him playing for Surrey for two or three games now. So that was disappointing! We'd have loved to have had him here playing for us," said Sangakkara. Curran was involved in the high-profile pre-auction trade between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals, a deal that saw CSK acquire Sanju Samson while RR brought in Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. But due to a groin injury, Curran was ruled out of the tournament. On dealing with player unavailability, he said, "I think a proper tight policy around that is always a requirement. BCCI has a strict policy on that. Every person goes through injuries. And if it's a serious injury, a season-ending injury, of course, we understand. I mean, we've had quite a few injuries. We've also had players like Adam Milne, Shimron Hetmyer, quite a few who've come here, not had much of a game. Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Kwena Maphaka are some of them. They've been here. They've done the hard yards. They've practised. They've carried water for the team. And they've really worked as hard as anyone else to support the team in this journey." "So, I mean, it's really up to that individual player to decide whether they want to come or not. But I think the BCCI policy around it is very strict now. And that's the way it should continue, be very strict to make sure that contractual obligations are all met properly and genuinely. And I think every side in the IPL will benefit from that," he added. In the second qualifier, GT defeated RR by seven wickets. After GT put RR to bat first, a fine knock from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (96 in 47 balls, with eight fours and seven sixes) and a cameo from Donovan Ferreira (38* in 11 balls, with two fours and four sixes) took the Royals to 214/6 in 20 overs. Later in the chase of 215 runs, skipper Shubman Gill (104 in 53 balls, with 15 fours and three sixes) and his 167-run stand with Sai Sudharsan (58 in 32 balls, with eight fours and a six) set the platform for a three-wicket win. This was the highest target chased in the IPL playoffs, outdoing the target of 204 chased by Punjab Kings (PBKS) against Mumbai Indians (MI) in last year's Qualifier two. This is also GT's highest IPL run-chase, outdoing their 204-run chase against Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2025. (ANI)
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