Rajasthan Royals suffered their third successive defeat and slipped to sixth place with only two league matches remaining.
Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag delivered a harsh assessment of his team’s performance after their defeat to Delhi Capitals, admitting the side has fallen well below the standards required to compete for the IPL title.
RR failed to defend a total of 193 in Delhi, suffering their third straight loss and putting their playoff hopes under serious pressure. After winning their first four matches of IPL 2026, Rajasthan have managed just two victories in their next eight games.
“I feel if you want to win a trophy, if you want to be contending every single year, you’ve got to be better than what we’ve done today,” Parag said after the match.
The Royals skipper criticised the team’s energy, execution, and fielding, calling the overall performance “extremely disappointing.”
“I feel we are a way better team than what we’ve played or shown in the last four-five games,” he said. “If we keep on playing like this, we shouldn’t be in contention for the top four.”
Fielding errors proved costly for Rajasthan during the chase. Yash Raj Punja dropped KL Rahul on zero, allowing the batter to recover and score 56 off 42 balls. There were also misfields from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Parag himself in a contest that went down to the final over.
Despite the mistakes, the match remained evenly poised when Delhi needed 35 runs from the last three overs with six wickets in hand. However, Parag’s decision to bowl offspinner Donovan Ferreira instead of seamers Dasun Shanaka or Adam Milne backfired badly.
Axar Patel and David Miller attacked Ferreira immediately, smashing a six each in a 16-run over that shifted momentum firmly towards Delhi Capitals.
Parag defended the tactical call, insisting it was not a gamble.
“On TV it looks like a gamble, but then you’ve got two left-handers at the crease,” he explained. “I’d rather bowl Donovan and take a chance than get Shanaka to bowl another over.”
Rajasthan also lost momentum badly with the bat after a strong start. They collapsed from 161 for 3 to finish with just 41 runs in the final seven overs, losing six wickets in the process.
Mitchell Starc triggered the collapse with a brilliant 15th over that included the wicket of Parag, who had played an explosive knock of 51 from 26 balls.
Parag admitted Rajasthan failed to maximise a strong platform and believed the team should have posted a much bigger total.
“It had to be 220-230 — something like that,” he said. “As far as the bowling is concerned, I think we just weren’t there. We weren’t up to the mark.”
Rajasthan Royals are currently sixth on the IPL points table with two matches remaining and will next face Lucknow Super Giants in Jaipur on May 19.
