Kolkata Knight Riders registered a last-ball thriller at the Eden Gardens against Rajasthan Royals. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals faced another close match as well. Their Super Over defeat to Delhi Capitals, 2-run defeat to Lucknow Super Giants, 11-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and now this 1-run defeat to KKR made headlines.
“If I am counting right, it’s the fourth game in which we got into a position where we should have won it but were unable to finish it. That’s the kind of season which we have had,'” Vikram Rathour, RR’s batting coach, said.
Riyan Parag, the stand-in captain who smashed 95 runs off 45 balls and even smacked Moeen Ali for five sixes in an over, and looked like he would take his side to the finish line, but his dismissal in the 18th over to Harshit Rana’s slower ball turned the table.
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“Riyan Parag getting out [was the turning point]. If he was in there, I am sure he would have finished it off,” Rathour said. “Mostly, all the batters have scored runs. They are in good form, they are batting well in the nets. But it hasn’t been happening collectively. Similarly, in bowling as well, we have seen some really good spells individually, but as a group, maybe we haven’t clicked. Maybe the fielding hasn’t helped a great deal. That is one thing that we have missed. So yeah, a lot of things that didn’t go our way this season and a lot of areas to focus on and get better at.
“There is no issue with the quality. We have really good quality in our batting. We were not able to close the game and finish it. I am sure that in the next couple of seasons, we will be a really good batting group and a really good team to compete against,” he shared again.
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Vikram Rathour als opined on RR did not retain Jos Buttler. On the other hand, Shimron Hetmyer, the overseas batter who was retained, has had a very poor season.
“I won’t say it was a mistake. Obviously, you could have retained only six. The management is pretty happy with the six that we have retained. Hetty is supposed to be that finisher, and unfortunately, he has had that kind of a season. He is a superb player. He has done that in the past, he’s done well in international cricket, league cricket or franchise cricket. This year, he hasn’t been able to finish the games. That was his role basically. People are allowed to have those kinds of seasons. I have worked enough in cricket to know that really good players also go through lean phases. Unfortunately, Hetty had a poor season this year, which will happen once in a while. If he had a good season – and we are sure that he is going to improve – I don’t think we have any issue with the finishers then,” Vikram Rathore concluded.
