Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara shared his views after RR failed to reach the final of the IPL 2026. He also opined on Riyan Parag’s comment that the Royals “weren’t supposed to be in the playoffs” as well.

“No, RR is not, probably before,” Sangakkara said. “In 2022, we made a conscious decision that we were going to change that. We decided we were going to get as many players as possible who could win matches for us and were ready to play immediately. That is how we have approached everything. Vaibhav is an outlier, but we bought him because we thought he was absolutely good enough to play in our first eleven.”

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Speaking on the team’s ‘development angle’, he explained that their philosophy changed four years ago, though he added the Royals did not have the most optimised auction two years back as well.

“Regarding the development angle, we have changed our mindset completely away from that over the last four years,” he shared. “We probably didn’t have the best auction two years ago in terms of the utilisation of our purse, but that is the way it goes sometimes. But I think for everyone who played now-yes, there is a bit of inexperience at times, but they are here to win.”

“I thought Riyan’s first season as captain was excellent. He managed his team and his on-field decisions really well,” Kumar Sangakkara concluded. “He will grow and learn, as will the other players, and we will come back better. I think no one really gave us a chance to qualify when we started the campaign, but it just goes to show that when you work hard, play good cricket, and enjoy the game, you can make some truly special things happen.”