The Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag defended his decision to restrict Ravi Bishnoi’s involvement in their IPL 2026 clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday night. The night that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smashed his second IPL century off just 36 balls ended in a heartbreak for the Royals.
Despite posting 228 runs in their 20 overs, Rajasthan Royals lost the match with nine balls to spare as their bowling unit had no answers to Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan.
Jofra Archer got the Royals off to a great start with a sensational first over, where he removed Travis Head. But after that over, some poor new ball bowling and lack of wicket-taking options cost them the match. Abhishek struck 57 off 29 while Ishan blasted 74 off 31 balls.
While Rajasthan scampered for options, the usage of leg-break bowler Bishnoi raised the eyebrows. Parag and Donovan Ferreira bowled an over each before Bishnoi was given the ball in the 12th over. He was taken down for 16 runs in that over. The skipper explained the presence of two left-handers made it hard to bring in a leg-spinner.
“Well, I think there were two lefties and I thought me and Don had a better chance of getting a wicket and then I wanted Klaasen to come in and then get Ravi and Jaddu bhai in. But the wicket was not really spin-friendly. So I just had to manage four overs,” said Parag in the post-match presentation.
The pitch at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday night was indeed an extremely quick one with the balls flying off the surface. There was decent assistance for pacers but nothing for spinners. Parag did not regret that decision as he would do the same on another pace friendly surface.
“Maybe less of an economy I would have liked that, but then it was a wicket where the pacers had to take wickets and the spinners had to just be there and control the economy. Didn’t really go to plan, but would do the same thing next time as well,” he added.
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The Royals won four games on the trot and were one of the favourites to finish in the top 2 on the points table. But they have lost three of their last four games and the chances are slipping away.
They currently sit at fourth spot with 10 points and a net run-rate of 0.602. It’s the worst NRR among the top four teams. Royal Challengers Bengaluru have the same number of points with a game in hand while Punjab Kings have three more points with one fewer game played. For RR to reach the top 2, they can not afford more losses, and have to hope RCB, PBKS, and SRH lose a few.
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