Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson conceded that the loss of wickets at 'the wrong time' prevented him from stepping up the momentum against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
In a knock that was studded with seven boundaries and a maximum, Samson eventually finished with 54 off 49 deliveries. His innings though never really took off the way he wanted it to.
"The wicket was a bit slow, but they (KKR) also bowled really well. With the kind of batting we had would have liked a few more boundaries at the end and finish off a bit better.
"I think we were short by 15-20 runs,” he said, after Rajasthan Royals were beaten by seven wickets.
Asked about an injury he was nursing before this game, he said: "Having few niggles from the last couple of games. It's feeling good now and I'm recovering well. It's a great effort (with the ball); we showed some real fight in the game and the energy was really amazing.”
Samson lamented the lack of a good partnership.
"Personally, we should have batted a bit better. Of course, win the next toss for sure. We have to keep on assessing the game and who is batting with who.
"Wickets at the wrong time stopped me from keeping the momentum going. Wanted to build up a partnership and when I wanted to go hard, I think they bowled really well and we couldn't execute our shots," he added.
Chasing 153 for victory, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh stitched a match-winning 66-run partnership off just 38 balls which changed the momentum as Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways after five straight defeats.
