IPL 2023: Kumar Sangakkara insists Royals still a very high-quality side after their fourth defeat in five games
May 5, 2023
We were very, very poor in terms of capitalising on the starts we got. We were showing intent for a while, but we were a little bit reckless, and then we had very, very little intent against the two spinners. Rashid bowled brilliantly, I thought Noor bowled really well as well, but thats the time the batters need to step up and show more and more intent.
Even a defence in T20 cricket has to have the intent of wanting to score. You work down the sequence of 6, 4, 3, 2, 1; or, if youre under pressure, you go 4, 3, 2, 1. But you are always looking for opportunities to score, and at the minimum, getting off strike.
And once that intent is shown, it doesnt matter how good a bowler you are, you are always thinking that you cant give the batter anything loose because youre going to get put away. So thats one area that weve got to really look at.
Rashid Khan
picked up 3-14 in four overs and Noor Ahmad took 2-25 in three overs in bamboozling Rajasthan to be all out for 118 runs in the 18th over at home.
Sangakkara lauded Ahmads peformance. He said: The young man showed a lot of character. He didnt have the greatest in terms of his first outing against us, but since then he has bowled exceptionally well.
Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 3:42 am