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Key Points

Rajasthan Royals suffered a 10-run defeat against Punjab Kings despite strong starts from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel. Head coach Rahul Dravid defended his batters while acknowledging bowling shortcomings. PBKS spinner Harpreet Brar's 3-wicket spell proved decisive in the high-scoring thriller. The loss pushes RR to ninth place while PBKS moves up to second in the IPL 2025 standings.

Key Points: Rahul Dravid Defends RR Batters After PBKS Defeat in IPL 2025

  • RR falls short by 10 runs chasing 220
  • Dravid highlights bowling struggles in high-scoring game
  • Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel shine in losing effort
  • PBKS climbs to second spot with Harpreet Brar's 3-wicket haul
2 min read

Rajasthan Royals' head coach Rahul Dravid backs batters following disappointing performance against Punjab Kings

Rajasthan Royals coach Rahul Dravid supports batters despite loss to Punjab Kings, citing bowling struggles in IPL 2025 clash.

"There's no point just blaming the batters. We gave 20 runs extra with the ball. – Rahul Dravid"

Jaipur, May 19

After his team's defeat against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), Rajasthan Royals (RR) head coach Rahul Dravid backed his batters following their disappointing performance in the 59th encounter of the ongoing 18th edition of the cash-rich league.

An exceptional bowling performance from left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar guided the Punjab Kings (PBKS) team to victory over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 10 runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday.

With this win, the Punjab side moved to the second spot (17 points in 12 games). On the other hand, the Rajasthan team slipped to the ninth position (6 points in 13 matches) in the IPL 2025 points table.

Speaking on the team's loss at the post-match press conference, Rahul Dravid said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, "There's no point just blaming the batters. I think with the ball, too, to be honest, I didn't think it was a 220 wicket; it was about a 195, 200 wicket, and we gave 20 runs extra. If we look at the numbers, we are probably not good enough with the ball, both at taking wickets and controlling runs. We are chasing 200-220 every game."

Opting to bat first, PBKS was 34/3. Following that, a 67-run stand between skipper Shreyas Iyer (30 in 25 balls, five fours) and Nehal Wadhera (70 in 37 balls, with five fours and five sixes) and a 58-run partnership between Wadhera and Shashank Singh (59* in 30 balls, with five fours and three sixes) solidified PBKS's hold on the game. Then an explosive partnership between Shashank and Azmatullah Omarzai (21* in three balls, with three fours and a six) took PBKS to 219/5 in their 20 overs.

Tushar Deshpande (2/37) was the leading wicket-taker for RR.

In the run-chase, young openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 in 25 balls, with nine fours and a six) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (40 in 15 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) provided RR with the start they needed, getting 76 runs in just 4.5 overs. RR kept up with the run-rate despite losing wickets later, with Dhruv Jurel (53 in 31 balls, with six fours and four sixes) playing another fine knock. However, other batters failed to respond to the scoreboard pressure, falling 11 runs short, with RR finishing at 209/7.

Harpreet Brar (3/22) was the top bowler for PBKS. Marco Jansen (2/41) and Omarzai (2/44) also were solid with the ball.

- ANI

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Reader Comments

R
Rahul K.
Dravid sir is right - we can't just blame batters when bowling has been consistently poor. Giving away 220 runs is criminal in T20 cricket. Our death bowling has been a joke this season. Need to rebuild the bowling unit for next year.
P
Priya M.
Jaiswal and Jurel showed great promise today! 💪 But others need to step up. RR management should stop experimenting with batting order every match. Consistency is key in T20s too. #RRvPBKS
A
Amit S.
As a die-hard RR fan, this season has been painful to watch. From finalists last year to bottom of table - what went wrong? Too many changes in team composition. We need stability and better auction strategy next year.
S
Sanjana R.
Harpreet Brar was brilliant today! 👏 Sometimes we forget how good Indian domestic players can be. PBKS showed great team effort while RR relied too much on individual performances. That's the difference between top and bottom teams.
V
Vikram J.
Respect to Dravid for defending his players publicly, but privately he must be fuming. RR's middle order collapse has become a pattern now. Need proper finishers - can't always depend on Jurel to bail us out.
N
Neha P.
That opening partnership was fire! 🔥 But cricket is a team game - others couldn't capitalize. RR needs to learn from PBKS how to build partnerships under pressure. Shashank Singh and Wadhera showed how it's done.

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