After Rajasthan Royals' (RR) crushing 112-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), captain Sanju Samson said that it could've been a very tight match if the hosts had a decent Power-play.
Half-centuries by skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell and a cameo of an unbeaten 29 off 11 balls from Anuj Rawat guided RCB to a competitive total of 171/5 in 20 overs.
In response, the Royals put up a dismal batting display as they suffered a collapse early and were reduced to 28/5 in the Power-play, before getting bowled out for 59 in 10.3 overs, the third-lowest innings total in the history of the tournament.
Only Joe Root and Shimron Hetmyer managed to get into double figures and the latter was the only one who was able to take on the opposition bowlers.
"I think our top three were scoring a lot of runs, we go hard in the Power-play but it didn't come out today. I think it's too soon to analyze or dissect the game. You need to go hard in the Power-play knowing the ball was getting slower and older, that's the way me, Jaiswal and Jos have played throughout," Samson said after the match.
"Credit to the RCB bowlers for their energy and intensity. I think this was a target that could have gone to the wire, I expected a tight match if we had a decent Power-play," he added.
Samson further said he does not have any answers for how did the batting collapse happen, adding that the nature of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is such that anything can happen at any time.
"I was just thinking seeing the batting collapse where we went wrong? I don't think I have an answer to that yet. We all know the nature of the IPL, we've seen some funny things happen in the league stage.
"We have to keep strong, take a day off and think about the game in Dharamshala. I think we need to end on a strong note. We have to take responsibility on the whole as a team for this performance," he added.
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RR will now head to Dharmshala for their last league-stage fixture against Punjab Kings on May 19.