Sanju Samson Blames Middle-Order After Rajasthan Royals' Loss To Punjab Kings: "Couldn't Carry..."

Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson revealed the reason behind his team's defeat against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 59th encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Sunday. A brilliant 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.

Speaking about the team's loss, the wicketkeeper-batter said at the post-match presentation, "We started off well, couldn't ask for anything more from the openers, having scored 90 runs in the powerplay. We couldn't carry on the momentum we got in the powerplay. It (target) was quite achievable today. The wicket played completely different today. That was a chaseable score with the kind of power-hitters we had. It's a bit hard to nail it down to one thing, we have to get the job done. A couple of experienced guys should take responsibility and do their job. Definitely a lot of improvements to be done for the upcoming season. We can't try much, the first priority is to win the game (vs CSK)."

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