IPL 2023: Kumar Sangakkara laments RR's 'embarrassing' show at home against GT, urges player to pull up socks

Rajasthan Royals cut a sorry figure in their latest home game against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023. Batting first after winning the toss, the hosts were looking good at 50 for two after the end of the Powerplay, but wickets fell like a pack of cards after that as they got all out on 118. For Gujarat, the top three shined as they chased down the target with nine wickets, further strengthening their position on the points table. RR’s director of cricket and head coach, Kumar Sangakkara, labelled this performance as 'embarrassing' and urged the players to pull up the socks as playoff approaches.

Speaking to the media after the loss, Sangakkara said a performance like this is embarrassing for everyone in the camp. He added other than being poor across all sectors, RR batters didn’t show any intent against the Afghanistan pair of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad, who picked five wickets between them.

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"We were very, very poor in terms of capitalising on the starts we got. We were showing intent for a while, but we were a little bit reckless, and then we had very, very little intent against the two spinners. Rashid bowled brilliantly, I thought Noor bowled really well as well, but that's the time the batters need to step up and show more and more intent,” Sangakkara expressed disappointment after RR’s nine-wicket loss against GT.

Shedding some light on the side's inability to cash in on the little chances against GT, Sangakkara said that led to the downfall as the group needs to sit together and work on before their next league clash against SunRisers Hyderabad on Sunday.

"Even a defence in T20 cricket has to have the intent of wanting to score. You work down the sequence of 6, 4, 3, 2, 1; or, if you're under pressure, you go 4, 3, 2, 1. But you are always looking for opportunities to score, and at the minimum, getting off strike.

"And once that intent is shown, it doesn't matter how good a bowler you are, you are always thinking that you can't give the batter anything loose because you're going to get put away. So that's one area that we've got to really look at," he added.

Further emphasising how important it is for RR to win their remaining games or at least most of them to stay alive in the playoff race, Sangakkara said this harsh loss came late, and at the wrong time for them, but he still believes Rajasthan have a potent unit to turnaround the results.

"Games like this, most sides have pretty bad games," Sangakkara said. "Unfortunately, we've had one now, pretty late in the tournament. We're still a very high-quality side, playing some very good cricket if you take this one out of the equation.

"But we've got to accept the fact that we were extremely poor today. And that's the first step. You realise it, accept it, and then try to come up with the solutions to what the problems are," he added.