IPL 2021: RR captain Sanju Samson praises 'brilliant' pacers as KKR's Eoin Morgan rues batsmen's 'lack of intent'

Mumbai: Skipper Sanju Samson could not have asked for a better show from his pacers, who scripted Rajasthan Royals’ six-wicket win, while Eoin Morgan rued his side’s ordinary batting performance in the IPL on Saturday. The Royals chased down a modest 134-run target with ease for their second win of the season after their pacers restricted the rivals to 133 for nine. Samson himself played a calculated knock of 42 runs in his team’s win. [caption id=“attachment_9562071” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Sanju Samson Captain of Rajasthan Royals during match 18 of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2021 between the Rajasthan Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders held at the Wankhede Stadium Mumbai on the 24 April 2021. Photo by Ron Gaunt / Sportzpics for IPL[/caption] “It was brilliant actually. The bowlers have been doing well in the last four-five matches — the youngsters as well as the seniors. I enjoy captaining them,” said Samson at the post-match presentation ceremony. “We could see in Morris’ eyes that he wanted the competition to get big batsmen out,” he said about Chris Morris, who starred with a four-wicket haul. Samson said he does not come into the crease with a specific “mindset”. “I just love to keep enjoying my batting, but nowadays I play according to a situation and try to win games for my team.” KKR skipper Eoin Morgan rued the poor show by his batters. “The batting was the letdown and we lacked a lot of intent throughout the whole innings. We were behind the game right from the get-go. Possibly, we were 40 short which is a lot in a T20 game,” said the English player. “The bowlers had too much to do. It’s a stark contrast to the last game. The wicket hasn’t been as good as it has been in the previous games and we couldn’t overcome the challenge. It left us with a lot to do, which we couldn’t do,” he added. Morgan emphasised the need to play freely. “The clearer the mind, the easier it is. Ultimately, one guy needs to play free-flowing cricket. Two sides struggling to gain momentum in the tournament and we missed big two points,” he said.