I could not sleep after the last innings says RR opener Ajinkya Rahane

I could not sleep after the last innings says RR opener Ajinkya Rahane: The Rajasthan Royals (RR) after a couple of defeats is back to winnings ways with a 14 runs win over the Delhi Daredevils (DD) at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai. RR enjoyed playing at the Brabourne stadium which is supposed to be their home ground this season. It was Indian top order batsman and Rajasthan opener Ajinkya Rahane who made ground for their win over Delhi who was coming on the back of a 9 wicket victory at home.

Rahane played a knock full of class, by the end of the innings he was 9 runs short of his second IPL hundred. It was the 54 balls 91 runs that propelled RR to post 189-2 in 20 over’s a target which looked beyond Delhi’s reach even before the start of the innings.

Following his knock, he expressed his pleasure and also showed the hunger the Mumbai boy has in, to go out there and perform every match, “I was really hurt when I got out (for 16 to R Vinay Kumar) in the last game. I could not sleep that night and was all the time thinking about my shot and about the loss (by 7 wickets). I just wanted to make it count I knew I was batting really well. Once I was in after 6-7 overs, I was planning to bat for 20 over’s,” he said.

On staying unbeaten on 91 in the end, was he trying to get to the triple figures? Rahane said, “I was not thinking about a century at all. I just wanted to play as many shots as possible in that last over. We knew 190 -95 would be a good score,”

How good was it batting with another youngster who has done well at the domestic level, “The partnership between me and Karun after 14 overs was very important. Our plan was to play as long as possible. Playing shots for set batsmen was easy as the wicket was very good with true bounce. I told Karun to time the ball as the outfield was fast. Karun batted positively from the other end.

He also praised the Royals’ bowlers especially Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny and James Faulkner, for their bowling; all the three picked two wickets each while skipper Shane Watson maintained the pressure from his end, he got 1 success for 25 runs.

The Royal opener said it was a complete team effort with everyone chipping in and doing their job. “It was a team effort. Our bowlers bowled well. The wicket was a bit helpful, but once set it was easy for batsmen. We have to give credit to our bowlers. After the first six overs it was not so easy to bowl. With good bounce and pace, the wicket was in favour of batsmen. They took wickets at regular intervals,” he said. “Even our fielding was very good tonight; we saved 5-7 extra runs. The bowlers also bowled in right areas. It was a great team effort, I would say,” he concluded.