Chennai: A day after Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson played the magical 119-run innings but fell just short of guiding his team past the target set by Punjab Kings, opinion was divided on whether he took the right decision to not go for a run off the penultimate ball of the innings.
The new RR skipper declined a single to Chris Morris off the second-last ball of the innings, while chasing a mammoth target of 221.
Samson, instead, decided to go for a big hit off the last ball from Arshdeep Singh but couldn’t clear deep cover and was caught by Deepak Hooda.
Rajasthan Royals finally managed 217 for 7 in 20 overs.
Former India batsman and cricket commentator Sanjay Manjrekar said the RR captain took the right decision to not go for a single.
“Yes, he took the right call because I am thinking, which is the greatest possibility. Samson hitting the last ball for a six with the kind of form that he was in and Morris had just come in — hitting that ball for a four and, you know, I thought hitting the six was a greater possibility than Morris hitting a four. I thought he (Samson) took the right call and almost managed it but, unfortunately, it turned out to be a great innings in a losing cause,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.com.
