New Delhi, May 18: In the 62nd match of IPL 2026, Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced a 5-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals (DC). This loss marked RR’s third consecutive defeat, leaving captain Ryan Parag visibly frustrated. He stated that if the team continues to play in this manner, they will not secure a spot in the playoffs.
Following the defeat to Delhi Capitals, Ryan expressed, “If we want to win the trophy and compete every year, we need to perform better than we did in this match. I am very disappointed. I believe we are a much better team than what we have shown in the last four or five matches. However, after the break, I feel the energy, skill, and execution we displayed today were clearly lacking. If we keep playing like this, we won’t be in the race for the top four.”
Yashraj Poonja dropped a catch of KL Rahul when he hadn’t even opened his account. Additionally, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ryan Parag himself made several fielding errors. Despite this, RR remained in contention until the final overs. In the last three overs, DC needed 35 runs to win. Axar Patel was set at the crease, and David Miller had just arrived. Even with Dasun Shanaka and Adam Milne’s overs remaining, Captain Parag handed the ball to Donovan Ferreira. This decision backfired as Axar and Miller scored 16 runs in that over, tilting the match in favor of DC.
Discussing the decision to bowl the 18th over with Ferreira, Ryan clarified, “It wasn’t a gamble. I know it may look like a gamble on TV, but you had two left-handed batsmen at the crease. I preferred to bowl Donovan and take a chance rather than have Shanaka bowl another over.” During their batting innings, RR lost six wickets for just 41 runs in the last seven overs. After 14 overs, the team was at 160/2, but in the 15th over, Stark delivered a devastating blow, taking three crucial wickets, including that of captain Ryan Parag.
According to Ryan, the RR batsmen failed to capitalize on the set platform after his dismissal. He remarked, “This score should have been 220-230. As for our bowling, I think our performance was quite poor. We failed to deliver as expected.”
Arpit Soni has had a passion for journalism since the beginning. Now he has turned this hobby into his profession. Arpit, who is a resident of Udaipur, enjoys editing and writing news related to journalism. He has worked as a Senior Content Producer in several important roles at Bhaskar, Patrika, Pratahkal, Punjab Kesari, and Times. Arpit completed his schooling in Udaipur and Jaipur. He has been working in the media industry for more than 10 years, and his journey is still continuing. ✍️📚
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