Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 14 (ANI): Following his side's crushing loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Riyan Parag termed the loss as "just a blip". Acknowledging that while he does not have a lot of time to feel the emotions, he lauded the team's batting depth, as shown by a century stand between Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira after five wickets were down within the first three overs.
Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, two pacers from Vidarbha and Bihar, put an end to RR's winning streak as RR bundled out for 159 against SRH, who made 216/6 courtesy a fine 91 in 44 balls from skipper Ishan Kishan. With this win, RR's four-match win streak is broken, and SRH have their second win to their name alongside three losses. RR have suffered their first loss but sits at the top of the table, while SRH has jumped to fourth place with two wins and three losses.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Riyan said about the batting collapse, "Not a lot of time to feel emotions. Credit to the way they bowled. A few miscalculations from us. (On the pitch) It was pretty good. Felt bowling second might have been better. It was sticky with the new ball. After the shine went, it slowed down. But again, that is hindsight and we could have batted better."
"Being five wickets down for nine, and still getting to 160, says a lot about the depth. It is just a blip. We move ahead to Kolkata and something better," he added.
On the performances of SRH's uncapped pacers, he revealed playing Sakib for Assam against Bihar.
"I have not seen them a lot domestically. Played Sakib (when playing for Assam versus Bihar) once. They bowled beautifully. The pressure they had, with the home crowd chanting their name, the way they bowled - it was beautiful," he signed off.
Put to bat first, SRH posted 216/6, largely powered by skipper Ishan (91 in 44 balls, with eight fours and six sixes) and cameos from Heinrich Klaasen (40 in 26 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (28 in 13 balls, with four boundaries). During the chase of 217 runs, RR's top-order was ripped apart in the first over by debutant Praful (4/34 in four overs), and RR were left hopeless at 9/5. Donovan Ferreira (69 in 44 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Ravindra Jadeja (45 in 32 balls, with five fours) did put a century stand for net-run-rate's sake, but RR was bundled out for 159, with some late support by Sakib (4/24). (ANI)