Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag said the call to move Ravindra Jadeja higher up the batting order over Donovan Ferreira against Delhi Capitals was driven by two main ideas: creating a left-right mix and giving the team’s late-overs batters a platform to go big against the pacers in the final stages.
Parag explained the thinking behind the promotion, stating, “It was actually lefty-righty as well. There were, what, eight-nine overs left. We wanted to hold off the entry point a little, and get a few runs per over from the spinners during that period, then start from ball one once the seamers came on. That’s how the plan looked.”
Rajasthan were 114 for 3 when Dhruv Jurel was dismissed in the 12th over. Jadeja contributed a quick 20 off 14 balls, helping Parag build a 53-run stand. Ferreira then struck 47 off 14 deliveries, and the duo powered Rajasthan to 78 in the last five overs, lifting the total to 225.
Parag assessed the score as 25 runs beyond what was par. However, he pointed to Rajasthan’s bowling in the middle phase as the real problem, noting that they leaked 114 runs during those overs and had three separate occasions where they conceded 18 or more in an over. In his view, the chase target was not the deciding factor—DC chased down 226 and handed RR a seven-wicket defeat.
He added, “I think it was a good score. Honestly, I felt 200 was somewhere around par. The wicket was expected to slow down a bit, but we could have bowled much better in the middle overs. We let them get away too easily, and then they hit a lot of boundaries in one particular over, and it kept happening. I felt we missed that trick. But there’s no harm in the decision we made at the toss.”
During the chase, Parag came off the field after what looked like cramp, and he also did some stretching near the boundary line. Despite that, there have been no injury worries reported so far.
Parag later said, “Yeah, hopefully it’s not too serious, but it’s a little bit on the hamstring. Thankfully we’ve got like a week break, so hopefully I recover.”
