"It was not an ideal situation to take a risk" - Kumar Sangakkara on David Miller's dismissal against Delhi Capitals
Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara wasn't pleased by David Miller's shot selection in his side's loss to the Delhi Capitals. The Royals slid to their fifth defeat in nine matches, falling 33 runs short of the Capitals' modest total of 154 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Kumar Sangakkara specifically pointed to Miller's dismissal in the fifth over as he was stumped by Rishabh Pant off Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling. It left the Royals reeling at 17-3, with all the responsibility falling to Sanju Samson to shepherd the run-chase.
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Speaking at a press conference, Sangakkara felt Miller should've curbed his attacking instincts at that stage. He added that against a highly skillful bowler like Ashwin, the southpaw needed to play smartly.
"I think you can look at David Miller's dismissal in a couple of ways. He is an attacking player and this is a shot he usually plays. Unfortunately, he was up against a really smart bowler with a lot of experience. Probably right, it was not an ideal situation to take a risk, we had lost a couple of wickets. But that's T20 cricket," Sangakkara answered a query from the ANI News.
Captain Sanju Samson was the lone warrior in the run-chase. He finished 70 not out off 53 deliveries. However, he lacked support from the other end as no other batter scored substantially, despite the Royals only losing six wickets.
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"Delhi Capitals stayed away from areas of Sanju's strengths" - Kumar Sangakkara
Sangakkara couldn't hold back from praising the Capitals' bowlers for tying up one end and not allowing Samson to score freely. The 43-year old also remarked that 154 was achievable, but they batted poorly. He added:
"I think it was a tough one for skipper Sanju Samson, he was batting well. All we needed was someone to stay with him and unfortunately, losing wickets regularly did not allow Sanju to run free early on. Delhi boys bowled smartly and they managed to stay away from areas of Sanju's strengths. We can go back and analyse whichever way, we should have chased 154 with the batting we had, and we were just not good enough on the day."
The Capitals climbed to the top of the table by securing their eighth victory. Rishabh Pant earned admiration for his captaincy as the franchise's bid to win their IPL title seems agonizingly close this year.