IPL 2025: Rahul Dravid questions bowlers after loss against Punjab Kings

Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid reckons they haven’t done well with the ball in the ongoing season, which has led to their downfall in the ongoing IPL 2025 season. RR suffered their 10th loss of the season against Punjab Kings at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday.

PBKS posted 219 runs on the board after Shreyas Iyer decided to bat first. The visitors were 34-3 after 3.1 but Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh scored 70 and 59 runs respectively to get their team close to the 220-run mark.

Dravid reckons it was a 190-200 kind of wicket and they conceded 20 runs more after RR suffered a 10-run loss. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi added 76 runs in 4.5 overs but RR veered off the track after a bright start. 

“There’s no point just blaming the batsmen. To be honest, this wicket I didn’t think it was 220 wicket… It was about 195-200 wicket and we gave 20 runs extra also,” Dravid said.

Dravid highlighted that the bowling unit has failed to deliver as they haven’t picked wickets nor they have controlled the runs.

“If we look at the statistics of the entire season, we haven’t been able to do well in bowling, neither in taking wickets nor in controlling the runs. We are chasing in nine out of 10 matches, and every time the target is 200-210-220. Even then, our openers are giving us a good start, but we aren’t able to finish the run chase. So we have to work on these things next season, on the bowling, even in the fielding, where we are missing catches.

“Sometimes it looks like you’ve only won three matches. But if we look at it, we’ve lost five close matches. So if we are able to get over the line in those 4-5 close matches in a row, sometimes the season looks good, but there’s no excuse. You have to win. If you have to do well in this tournament, you can’t lose five close matches. You can lose 1-2, but you can’t lose five close matches. We were not able to do that in the last phase of the season, but we’re hopeful that there are some good talents in the team.”

Rajasthan Royals will play their last match of the season against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday.