“Turned out to be a great all-rounder for us”: Sanju Samson sings praises of R Ashwin batting performance for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022

R Ashwin batting performance: The captain of Rajasthan Royals was appreciative of his spinner contributing with the bat as well.

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson believes that his team deserves its second spot on Indian Premier League 2022 points table. Having defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets in their final league match tonight, Royals have ended the league stage with nine wins and five losses.

“The way we’ve played throughout the league stage stands out. We’ve had great games where almost everyone has stood up to win games. We deserve to be in this position is what I feel,” Samson told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Losing the toss and bowling first at the Brabourne Stadium tonight, Samson saw his bowlers getting hit left, right and centre as Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali registered a 19-ball half-century.

However, it was commendable on the part of Royals’ bowlers to restrict the opposition to 150/6 in spite of leaking 83 runs in the first seven overs. Picking three wickets in as many overs after the powerplay being the key, Samson managed his troops quite well to not let CSK gain momentum again.

“It was important to understand that the wicket was good and they just kept going. It’s hard to stop someone like Moeen Ali. It was okay to go for runs. We knew we could believe in our bowlers to come back stronger, we came back stronger than expected to give just 75 after the powerplay,” Samson said.

Sanju Samson sings praises of R Ashwin batting performance in IPL 2022

Much like Chennai, Rajasthan also lost crucial wickets in the middle overs to dent their progress in a 151-run chase. While they had qualified for the playoffs in the first over of the chase itself, a victory was mandatory for their Top Two finish.

Promoted in the batting order yet again, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took the opportunity with both hands to end up with a match-winning 40* (23) comprising of two fours and three sixes. Ashwin, whose 183 runs in 10 IPL 2022 innings have come at a strike rate of 146.40, played a titular role in RR sealing a chase in the last over at the Cricket Club of India on Friday.

“There were nerves with the bat with cricket being a funny game, them having good bowlers, and the pitch being stoppy. [Ravichandran] Ashwin has done a great job and has turned out to be a great all-rounder for us. He batted a lot in the nets before the season. We were expecting something special from him [in the batting],” Samson said of Ashwin’s batting.