SRH vs RR, IPL 2024 Qualifier 2: Sanju Samson Opens Up After Defeat Costs Rajasthan Royals Final Spot

Chennai: Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson believes his counterpart Pat Cummins’s decision to introduce spinners in the middle overs is where the Royals lost the game as well as the spot in the final.

Throughout the tournament, SRH heavily relied on their pace bowling set-up to get the job done. But on Chepauk, Cummins turned the tide by introducing the spin duo of Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma.

The Royals batters perished in front of the spin duo and ended up giving away five wickets. After the game, Samson stated that the introduction of spinners was the moment they lost the game.

“It was a big game. I am really proud of the way we bowled in the first innings. We were found short of options in the middle overs against their spin, that’s where we lost the game,” Samson said after the game.

Rajasthan won the toss and decided to bowl, hoping that the dew factor would kick in at some point in the second innings. The dew never came which made it easier for the Sunrisers to defend their total of 176.

The spinners reaped benefits from the situation. The ball gripped and turned which gave Rajasthan batters a handful of problems to deal with.

“It’s very hard to guess actually when we are expecting some dew or when we are not. The wicket started behaving differently in the second innings, the ball started turning a bit, they used that advantage really well. They bowled their spin in the middle overs against our right-handed batsmen, that’s where they were one-up against us,” Samson said.

Samson felt that they could have used their footwork or relied on the sweep shot to negate the threat of the left-arm spin duo.

“Against their left-arm spin, when the ball was stopping, we could have tried a bit more reverse-sweep or maybe the use of the crease a bit more. They also bowled really well,” Samson added.

Recapping the match, after winning the toss, Samson decided to bowl. Heinrich Klaasen’s 50-run blitz helped Sunrisers post 175/9 on the board.

In reply, the spin duo didn’t allow Rajasthan to stay close to the asking rate. The pacers did their job and kept the batters at bay. Rajasthan succumbed to 139/7 and suffered a 36-run defeat.

Sunrisers will face Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of the ongoing edition at Chepauk on Sunday.