Dharamshala (Rajasthan) [India], May 20 : Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina gave credit to the director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals (RR) Kumar Sangakkara for the calmness in Yashasvi Jaiswal's batting who scored a match-winning fifty in the match against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
Rajasthan Royals pulled off a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings in Match No. 66 of the IPL 2023 in Dharamsala on Friday night to theoretically stay in contention for a play-offs place.
Speaking about Jaiswal, former Indian batter Suresh Raina said, "There is a certain calmness in his batting. There is a different energy in his body language, scoring runs consistently for his team. For this, I'll give a lot of credit to Kumar Sangakkara who is sitting in their dugout. He's (Jaiswal) a different type of player. He looks to dominate. And any player who looks to dominate in this format reaches a different level. He has all those qualities."
Set a tricky target of 188 for victory, the Royals, reached 189/6 in 19.4 overs with Shimron Hetmyer scoring 46 off 28 balls, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hitting 50 off 36 balls and Devdutt Padikkal hammering 51 off 30 balls. Earlier, PBKS scored 187/5 thanks largely to the efforts of Sam Curran 49 not out 31 balls, Jitesh Sharma 44 off 28 balls and M Shahrukh Khan 41 not out 23 balls.
The win took the Royals to 14 points after the conclusion of their league games, while PBKS finished their season with 12 points from 14 games. The Royals moved to fifth position and their fortunes in the tournament depend on the results of the remaining matches as both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, who have a game in hand each, have 14 points each as well.
Analysing Royals' performance, former Indian bowler Pragyan Ojha said, "I think it's too late now. For a team who you kept in your top four before the start of the tournament to now come and think that they can advance only if the other team that is in contention loses is a situation they brought upon themselves."
"That is something they have to think about. As Raina (Suresh) pointed out Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler got out for ducks in five of the 14 games. Then they were left searching for bowlers, also the way they used their bowlers... The small things add up to something big and it is visible in the eventual result," he added.
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