"The thinking to keep Devdutt Padikkal in the middle overs was to specially face the spinners they had" - Sanju Samson on RR's batting order

Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson was questioned over the strategy of promoting Ravichandran Ashwin to open the innings during their run chase against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday, April 5.

With a mammoth 198-run target in front of RR, oddly enough it was Ashwin who came out to face the new ball alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jos Buttler, who usually opens the innings, came in at No. 3. Devdutt Padikkal, a natural opener, was demoted to No. 5

The ploy failed as Ashwin was dismissed for a duck while trying to clear mid-on off Arshdeep Singh's bowling.

R Ashwin is opening for RR while chasing a close to 200 score 🤯

📷 : IPL / JioCinema

#RRvPBKS #Cricket #IPL2023 https://t.co/3WAhkGwyk9

Explaining the course of events that led to the changes in the batting order Samson said during the post-match presentation:

"Jos had a small injury, I think he was having stitches after he got injured while fielding, so the physio wanted time. I don't think there was enough time for the stitches and then go out to open the batting. So, the thinking was to have Ashwin open and hold everyone else back."

Samson continued:

"Also, the thinking to keep Devdutt Padikkal in the middle overs was to specially face the spinners they had. They had a leg spinner and a left-arm spinner bowling in the middle overs, so having a left-handed batter in the middle order was the plan."

Padikkal had a forgettable outing in the middle after coming out to bat in the final over of the powerplay. The left-handed batter looked far from his best and clearly struggled in the new position and ended up scoring 21 runs off 26 deliveries before being bowled by Nathan Ellis in the 15th over.

Elaborating further on Buttler's injury that he sustained while taking a catch to dismiss Shahrukh Khan, Samson said:

"Buttler seems fine, he did his stitches and I think he batted quite well when he was out there,"

The England white-ball skipper scored 19 runs off 11 deliveries before being dismissed in a rather unlucky fashion. He got an inside edge off Nathan Ellis' bowling, with the ball proceeding to hit his pads and go straight into the bowler's hand.

"We could see how Sam Curran bowled with the dew and taking his time" - Sanju Samson

Dew played a massive role in the encounter between PBKS and RR, with Sam Curran even requesting for the wet ball to be changed.

However, it was the England all-rounder who came through for PBKS after he managed to defend 16 runs off the final over with some potent death bowling.

The left-arm pacer was able to hit the wide yorkers to perfection, leaving the red-hot Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer constricted. He conceded 10 runs off the over to help PBKS to a five-run win.

Noting how important it is to not rush things up with the wet ball, Samson said while speaking of KM Asif, who returned with figures of 0-54:

"Someone like KM Asif was just playing his 6th or 7th IPL match, so it becomes very important to back him. We are definitely looking at our Indian pacers who can bowl across all stages of the game, it is not an easy job."

Samson continued:

"We could see how Sam Curran bowled with the dew and taking his time. The time frame is also important, the penalty forces you to rush. When the ball gets wet, it is important to take time and slow things down. All of these small factors become very important."

Asif is currently donning the role that Prasidh Krishna used to execute in RR. The Karnataka-born pacer has been ruled out of IPL 2023, leaving RR to depend on other Indian seamers like KM Asif, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, and Sandeep Sharma.

Should RR have promoted Padikkal up the order in Buttler's absence? Let us know what you think.