New Delhi: Rajasthan Royals performance director Jeremy Snape was forthright about the bashing his team received at the hands of an inspired Delhi aredevils. In a media interaction he expressed confidence that his side, who had won four games in row prior to this, would spring back to top form.
On what went wrong for the Royals: What went right is, I think, probably a better question. We had a comprehensive beating tonight and Delhi looked far superior in most of the departments. So after the four wins that we have had in a row, this has brought back down to earth.
On Dinesh Karthik’s innings: Well he is a very smart cricketer, isn’t he? He played a great knock when his side was under pressure. We had an excellent start with the ball taking key wickets and some great run outs – [like] the one of Collingwood. The pressure was definitely on Delhi to have to rebuild. And often at that time you need somebody who can handle the pressure and Karthik did that admirably. He built the partnership nicely and hit some good boundaries toward the end, so it was a match-winning knock.
On the toss: No, [losing the toss] not [to be blamed] at all. The statistics tell us that the toss is important, but we spoke to the guys before the game [and told them] not to worry about the toss too much. You know, there is going to be one captain and coach very happy and one very disappointed. I guess we are on the receiving end tonight. But I think it is more the way that we lost. We probably got outplayed today- you can’t worry too much about the toss.
On the main bowlers giving away too many runs: Well, I think Shaun Tait has been outstanding throughout this whole competition - he has won us games. What happens when you are playing well, oppositions analyse you really well and they know what’s coming and they played us really well tonight. [It’s] probably important for us to keep learning and keep adjusting and [that’s] one of the keys to Warnie’s [Shane Warne’s] captaincy. I guess Twenty20 cricket is [all about] staying one step ahead of the competition, so we’ve got to look at that strategy now and move one step ahead to keep winning.
On the team strategy: It’s a little bit early for that and I certainly wouldn’t reveal the new strategies at a press conference. But you know the game is moving very quickly. I think Delhi played very clever cricket on a slow wicket and they got a competitive target. As the wicket sort of got tired, they fielded incredibly well. You know there were some great catches which changed the game again. so just a little bit of luck went for Delhi tonight. But they deserve that - they played very good cricket […]
On whether the loss in the previous game against Delhi Daredevils affected the team: No not really. They were very separate games. We were very keen to win this game and had prepared specifically for it. It’s just that in a three-hour session we got outplayed – that’s the best way to term it.
On Rajasthan Royals relying too heavily on Yusuf Pathan: No, I don’t think we are dependent on any [one] person to be honest. I think we have relied on the team strength and that’s got us through the last four games. You have seen Adam Voges do incredibly well, Shaun Tait do incredibly well…Naman Ojha as you mentioned […] So there are a handful of players that have all done very well. Shane [Warne] himself has bowled incredibly well in the last few games. So just in all departments, I think the sort of accuracy of our execution wasn’t quite right today and Delhi were on top form – so that’s the way the result went.
On Sumit Narwal’s bowling performance: Yes, Sumit Narwal’s worked very hard. He is a guy that we have brought into the squad this year. He has been very impressive through the trials - he has bowled with good aggression up-front. A couple of games ago he struggled with his execution but tonight the plans that he put in, with a yorker and the bouncer to get rid of the two big international players, was really impressive. We have not got too many massive names and somebody like Sumit Narwal for us…it is important that he fires and does what he did today. So we were really impressed with him and I am sure he was motivated to do well against Delhi.
On Rajasthan’s chances of reaching the semis: I don’t think it matters which order you win or lose in to be honest, everybody’s going to try and fight to get into the last four. We have played some very good cricket to win four in a row. But as we know in twenty20 that’s very rare. In 2008, we lost a couple of games and they helped us to stay on track and keep innovating, coming up with new strategies and working hard. That’s what we have to do now. We play against Chennai next and we look forward to a tough game there.
On awaiting Shane Watson’s arrival: Shane Watson is a top-class international international player and he has certainly been a match winner for us in the Rajasthan Royals team. Obviously we would be delighted the sooner he can get here. But due to international fixtures that’s been out of our control. So we have not been pining for players that we can’t have, we’ve been working with the squad that we do have and as I said, we have had some very impressive victories over four strong teams and we have been delighted with that progress. So this is a little bit of a setback but nothing to be worried about at the moment.
On Yusuf Pathan’s inconsistent performances: I think Yusuf is an incredibly powerful player, his style of play is very belligerent, he takes very aggressive against the opposition. For us we need to build a platform for Yusuf to be able to fire from, that’s really important. So we are not [just] looking at Yusuf’s game in isolation. Obviously there are some coaching points that we can look at. But he is a fine player, he has had two great innings already in the tournament and it’s just a matter of time before he finds it again. We are probably more disappointed with the all-round team performance tonight and certainly wouldn’t single out any individuals.
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