Rajasthan Royals' (RR) miserable IPL 2025 season continued as they failed in yet another run chase to suffer a heartbreaking one run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday. Chasing 207, RR's stand-in captain Riyan Parag had single-handedly brought them back into the run chase. However, RR failed to wrap it up, ending up losing their ninth game out of 12 matches this season. After the match, head coach Rahul Dravid appeared emotionless in the dugout, having helplessly witnessed yet another narrow defeat.
It has not been a great year for Dravid who was re-appointed as head coach of Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2025. In a season where their regular captain Sanju Samson has suffered consistent injuries, RR have failed to finish multiple run chases from winnable positions.
Against KKR, it was no different. After being 71/5 at one stage, Riyan Parag played a scintillating knock of 95 off 45 balls to bring RR right back into the game. However, he departed without closing out the game.
It looked all over for RR, but their hopes were raised once again in the final over. Needing 22 to win off the last six balls, impact player Shubham Dubey took KKR pacer Vaibhav Arora to the cleaners.
However, needing 3 runs to win off the last ball, Dubey failed to connect, and Jofra Archer fell short of his ground as the batters tried to scrape two.
Rajasthan Royals' stand-in captain Riyan Parag felt that he miscalculated the target and failed to finish the match as Kolkata Knight Riders clinched a one-run win in a thrilling encounter at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
"I was just too sad about myself getting out. Probably a miscalculation from my side, I should have finished it. I think we could have found better options in the last six overs. I think they were 120 or 130 and our spinners did really well and maybe we could have cut down their runs, but the game was in our hands. We should have finished this," Parag said in the post-match presentation.
Reflecting on their bowling performance in the match, Parag admitted he could have used his resources better against Andre Russell who scored 25-ball 57 in the fag end of the innings.
With five wins in 11 games. KKR kept their playoffs alive and climbed to sixth spot in the points table. KKR next host Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals take on CSK in the bottom of the table clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 12.