Rajasthan Royals (RR) celebrated their record-breaking win against King XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Sunday, 27 September. In a video uploaded by RR, skipper Steve Smith started the proceedings saying that it was a "bloody great win".
“Sensational effort, always kept the belief throughout. Sanju again, another incredible innings mate. Tewatia, after obviously a shaky start; great work of keeping the belief and staying in there and sticking it out and helping get the boys home,” said a chuffed Smith. He also added that Tewatia should have got the Gamechanger Award (that Mayank Agarwal got for his 106 runs).
Steve Smith also heaped praise on fast bowler Tom Curran, as he gave only seven runs in the 17th over of Kings XI Punjab’s innings and took out the big fish, Mayank Agarwal.
Adding to Smith’s compliments, RR head coach Andrew McDonald commended the skipper who scored a quickfire fifty opening the batting for RR. “Not much for me [to say after Smith] but Smudge’s (Smith) innings at the start and that partnership with Sanju was important.”
McDonald also applauded Jofra Archer’s two sixes, who according to him, has made a habit of coming in and hitting sixes from the ball one. He said that when you are chasing such a big total, you need people to keep chipping in and Archer did just that.
McDonald backed up Smith on complimenting the bowlers. He said that on a small ground like this, every ball counts and in the last five overs they came back strongly and gave them a little sniff at the target and that’s what they needed.
After being at 172-0 in 15 overs, KXIP scored just 22-2 in their next three ensuring a little comeback from the Royals’ bowling department.
The last honours were reserved for Rahul Tewatia and Sanju Samson. Tewatia also complimented Ankit Rajpoot (playing his first game for RR) and Tom Curran for that little comeback.
Rajasthan Royals play their next game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, 30 September, in Dubai.
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