'Keep repeating good things' - RR coach Kumar Sangakkara motivates the team after their loss to MI in a nail-biting thriller 

Kumar Sangakkara (Source: Twitter)

Rajasthan Royals (RR) were defeated by Mumbai Indians (MI) by six wickets in a nail-biting contest at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, April 30. The 2008 champions will be disappointed for failing to defend 17 runs in the final over and seeing Yashasvi Jaiswal, who struck his maiden IPL century, on the losing side.

When the rest of the batters struggled to find runs, Jaiswal played a spectacular knock. The 21-year-old smashed 124 runs off 62 runs and helped his team to post a competitive total of 212 runs in the first innings. He was also awarded the Player of the Match despite RR's loss.

While defending a huge total, they managed to get an early lead by dismissing MI captain Rohit Sharma for 3 runs. However, the hosts had enough power hitters in the squad to make any target look easy. Suryakumar Yadav, who was out of form, stepped up and struck a blazing half-century to keep them in the hunt. The RR bowlers did not give up and prolonged the match to the final over with 17 runs.

Jason Holder had a defendable score in hand, but he couldn't retain his cool, and Australian big-hitter Tim David didn't miss any of the three full-toss deliveries bowled by the West Indian in the first three balls. David smashed three consecutive sixes and sealed a historic victory for the five-time champions.

Sangakkara urges the players to appreciate their efforts

Speaking after the defeat, the RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara gave an inspirational speech to his men in the dressing room. The former Sri Lankan batter urged the players to appreciate their efforts and not feel dejected as it was a great game of cricket.

"I need you guys to appreciate what a game of cricket this was. It was great. I know we feel down, when we have a great game, a great total, we expect to win. It's the same thing, we've done it to other sides. Alright? So no getting down. We got a lot of cricket to play, keep repeating the good things."

"The one thing from today, I want you guys to appreciate is all the efforts you guys put in, all the good cricket you played, all the good things you are today. How we can get a little bit better?," Sangakkara said.

Watch Kumar Sangakkara's video below:

𝘕𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴! 💪💗 pic.twitter.com/j6tS4W125m

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 1, 2023