Rajasthan Royals failed to support Jofra Archer and Rahul Tewatia enough during IPL 2020, says captain Steve Smith.
The Royals saw their tournament ended as they slipped to defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders.
It was an inconsistent campaign with Ben Stokes arriving late and Jos Buttler shifted around the order.
They ended up losing eight of 14 group games and are likely to end this year in bottom place.
However, there were a few highlights thanks to the performances of England pace bowler Archer and India’s Tewatia.
Smith said: “It’s an unfortunate way to end.
“We started the tournament off really well but lost our way in the middle. Our batters, the top four or five didn’t take responsibility.
“There’s a couple of real positives. Jofra has been exceptional pretty much every game and Tewatia obviously pulled a few rabbits out of the hat throughout the tournament. But there hasn’t been enough support for those guys.”
Archer’s impressive IPL 2020 season has seen him bag 20 wickets in the 14 games with an economy of 6.5
McDonald Rues Inconsistency
Meanwhile, Rajasthan head coach Andrew McDonald was left to rue inconsistent showings from the Royals.
Speaking after their last defeat, he added: “We’ve played inconsistent cricket throughout the tournament. We had opportunities in a couple of games but couldn’t get over the line. Today summed it up for us.
“Jofra was outstanding. His economy rates and ability to take wickets was great. He just keeps getting better and it’s scary to think how good he could be going forward.
“We’ve been inconsistent at critical times and that’s cost us any chance of a place in the semi-finals. It’s frustrating because we know we’re good enough but history will say we missed out.”
KXIP Also Fall Short
Rajasthan were not the only team to head for the exit at the weekend.
They were joined by Kings XI Punjab who fell short despite a spirited resurgence after Chris Gayle came to the party. Their defeat to Chennai also ended their hopes of a playoff place.
Captain KL Rahul said: “We didn’t have the results going our way in the first half of the tournament.
“The team still felt like we were playing good cricket but we were patchy. The bowling and batting wasn’t coming together in the first half, so I’m proud that we improved.
“It is disappointing because we had a lot of games in our pockets and we couldn’t get over the line and we only have ourselves to blame.”
