Rajasthan Royals’ captain Sanju Samson explained the reason to send Ravichandran Ashwin early at number 3 during the game last night against Gujarat Titans.
RR kicked off to a blazing start in their chase of 193 runs, however, the team lost Devdutt Padikkal’s (0) early. Following this, the fans were left stunned after R Ashwin walked out to bat at no.3. Ashwin was dismissed for 8 runs off as many balls. RR eventually failed to chase the target and lost the game by 37-runs.
Talking about the same, during the post-match presentation, Samson said:
“Ashwin bhai has been doing really well in the top order. If you see the last game, he had a crucial partnership with (Shimron) Hetmyer. We have been using him really well. He batted well against Rashid Khan, using all that experience. I feel that he is a very useful all-rounder. It’s all about using him at the right moment and in the right situations.”
In RR’s last game against Lucknow Super Giants, R Ashwin was sent in to bat at no.6 after the Sanju Samson-led side stumbled to 67 for 4. During that game, he had scored 28 off 23 balls before he retired out.
Further, Samson said that he was happy with the overall team combination of his side. He said:
“We have been doing a great job with our combination and team selection. Boult went through a small niggle in the training session and that’s why we had to make a small change. Otherwise, we think we have a really good batting unit and a bowling unit as well. I am happy with the combination.”
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals were dethroned from the top position at the points table of IPL 2022 after they were defeated by the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Before they locked horns on Thursday, both the teams had three wins in four matches, but Gujarat defeated the Royals to hand them their second defeat of the ongoing 2022 edition of the IPL and take over the top spot at the points table.
