Jaipur, May 9 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals stand-in captain Yashasvi Jaiswal backed his struggling bowling unit and refused to single out individuals after the side slumped to a crushing 77-run defeat against the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2026 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday.

Rajasthan were completely outplayed after Gujarat piled up 229/4 on the back of a dominant opening partnership between Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill before Rashid Khan ripped through the chase with a four-wicket haul.

Reflecting on how difficult it became once Gujarat’s openers settled in, Jaiswal admitted Rajasthan struggled to contain the flow of boundaries.

“We were just thinking to bowl in good areas and they were batting pretty well. So we were just thinking how we can cut down the boundaries or big shots. So I think it was pretty good from them,” Jaiswal said after the match.

The Royals were under pressure from the outset, as Sudharsan and Gill attacked aggressively during the powerplay and maintained momentum through the middle overs. Rajasthan’s pace attack, including Jofra Archer, failed to build pressure consistently on a batting-friendly Jaipur surface.

Archer, who has been among Rajasthan’s key bowlers this season, endured a rare off day and went wicketless while conceding heavily. However, Jaiswal firmly defended the England quick and said poor outings are part of the game.

“It’s cricket. We all know that there’s some days where you are in, there’s some days where you cannot bowl how you want. But he’s been doing so well for us, I think. So I think he’ll be coming back very strongly,” he said.

Rajasthan’s bowling combination had also drawn attention before the match after the franchise opted to leave out left-arm pacer Nandre Burger. Asked whether that was a difficult selection decision, Jaiswal said the management simply focused on the bowling plans for the powerplay.

“I actually didn’t think that much. I had simple plan who is my bowler and who can give me some good overs in the powerplay. So nothing much from my end,” Jaiswal stated.

Despite the heavy defeat, Rajasthan briefly threatened to pull off a remarkable chase after teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blasted 36 off 16 balls and Dhruv Jurel smashed 24 off 10 deliveries in a fiery powerplay.

The hosts raced to 78/3 in six overs before Gujarat’s spin attack turned the game completely. Rashid dismissed Jurel and later removed Ravindra Jadeja and others as Rajasthan collapsed from a promising position to 152 all out in 16.3 overs.

Jaiswal, however, chose not to dwell too much on the defeat and instead stressed the importance of learning quickly before the next fixture.

“Nothing much. I think we are going to look what we can do better and just look for the next game, what we can do and learn from this game,” he said.

The defeat dealt a significant blow to Rajasthan’s net run rate, while Gujarat strengthened their position in the playoff race with one of their most complete performances of the season.

–IANS

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