"I'm not sure where we went wrong," said Parag, unable to explain the latest failed chase

Three days ago against the Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals (RR) appeared to be cruising. Chasing 222, they needed just 23 runs from the final 12 deliveries with seven wickets in hand. Yet, the match ended in a tie, and RR lost in the Super Over.

On Saturday in Jaipur, déjà vu struck again. Chasing 181 against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), RR were well-placed, requiring only 25 runs off 18 balls with eight wickets remaining. But once more, they stumbled at the finish line, losing by two runs.

Following the narrow defeat — their fourth in a row — RR’s stand-in captain Riyan Parag was at a loss.
“It’s really kind of hard to process,” he said at the post-match presentation. “I don’t know what we did wrong. I felt we were in the game probably till the 18th over — the 19th, actually. But yeah, I don’t know.”

With three overs left and both set batters at the crease — Jaiswal on 74 and Parag on 38 — the game was RR’s to lose. But Avesh Khan’s brilliant 18th over changed the script: Jaiswal was bowled first ball by a searing yorker, and Parag was trapped lbw by another yorker as he attempted an audacious scoop. That double blow derailed the chase.

In the final over, needing nine runs, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel could only manage six against Avesh, sealing another heartbreaking loss.

“I think it’s something along those lines,” Parag said when asked if those two dismissals were the turning point.
“I blame myself for this. I probably should have finished it in the 19th over. But then, I don’t know if that was a bad decision on my part. We just have to put one complete game together — 40 good overs. Only then can we expect a win.”

Parag also pointed to the final over of LSG’s innings as a critical moment. Sandeep Sharma, usually reliable at the death, was taken for 27 runs by Abdul Samad, who smashed four sixes and lifted LSG to a competitive 180.

“I think we did really well with the ball until then. The last over was unfortunate,” Parag reflected.
“I thought we’d keep them to 165, maybe 170 max. Sandy bhai is trusted. I think he just had one bad game, and Abdul Samad batted really well. We were probably 15–20 runs over par. But we still should have chased it down.”

With just two wins from eight matches, RR now sit eighth on the table. They have a five-day break before their next fixture — an away clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 24 — and plenty to reflect on before then.

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