Rajasthan Royals’ chance of qualifying for the play-offs got slimmer as they suffered a 6 wickets defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders, however their captain Ajinkya Rahane believes that Rajasthan Royals can still qualify for the IPL 2018 playoffs.
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Rajasthan are currently fourth in the standings with 12 points from 13 games and will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last encounter, who are also in contention for a play-off berth.
“We still have to believe in ourselves. Anything can happen in cricket, it’s a funny game. We have to learn from our mistakes. We were too positive with our batting tonight. But, we have to learn as a team,” Rahane said at the post-match conference.
Rahane admitted that they missed out on a chance to score 175-180 runs after a commendable start by Rahul Tripathi and Jos Buttler upfront.
“After the magnificent start given by Rahul Tripathi and Jos Buttler, we did not string any partnerships. It’s not about any individual. We lost because we did not apply ourselves in the middle and we needed to get a partnership going. When you get a start like that you have to back yourself,” he said.
“We lost because of our batting. Even in the tournament we did not bat that well except for Buttler whose consistency was good to see. So many things the boys can learn from him. We thought 175-180 was a par score on this wicket.”
RR have missed some key player in the ongoing season and now Jos Butler and their most costliest player Ben Stokes will fly back home for the test series against Pakistan. But Rahane said Rajasthan have good overseas players to replace the Englishmen.
“Definitely, we will miss Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. I am really happy for Jos. Because, as a player, it’s everyone’s dream to represent their country in the longer format. We have got 3-4 overseas players with us, they are equally good.
“I’m sure the boys, especially the overseas players, will step up in the last league game against RCB,” he said.
