IPL 2019 | Really appreciate the effort everyone is putting in, says Sanju Samson

Saturday night’s seven-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad meant that Rajasthan Royals are still in the reckoning to make the play-off stage of this year’s IPL tournament. A change in leadership seems to have done the trick for Paddy Upton’s squad as Steven Smith replaced Ajinkya Rahane as captain.

The Royals put in a collective performance as they successfully defeated Kane Williamson & Co. at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. That was the Rajasthan-based team’s last match on home soil as they play the rest of their two matches away.

Meanwhile, RR’s Sanju Samson heaped praise on his teammates as he added that Smith & Co. wanted to win the match on home soil for the incredible crowd support that has been a characteristic of their home matches this season.

"(On Turner) It's not easy to play like that after three ducks. Winning shot means a lot to me. (On Pandey's dismissal) It was a very big nick, when Steve Smith came to me and asked, I was very confident that he didn't nick. I couldn't find the nick. It's not an easy job to play like this, being second from bottom. Shows a lot of character. 

"We really appreciate the effort each one is putting. Nothing is impossible in this tournament, we might end up qualifying. We still have the hopes. We wanted to win this match for the crowd. Wonderful energy to play here. We would like to dedicate this win to the crowd," Samson added.

Smith will depart after the next match against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore but it will be interesting to see if RR can win both their matches and push for a spot in this year’s IPL play-offs.