Jaipur: Steve Smith is happy to have ended Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) ‘home run’ on a high after a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) as he gears up to leave home for Australia’s World Cup preparatory camp.
Currently sitting at sixth in the points table with 10 points from 12 games, the Jaipur-based franchise have slender hopes for IPL play-off qualifications.
“It was a good end to our home season, the boys pulled things back nicely. We played together as a group and won those key moments. We have been fortunate in the last few games,” Smith said at the post-match press conference.
RR will be hoping for a favourable result to sneak in as the fourth team and Smith believes that his men can take it to the wire against Delhi Capitals in their last game in which he won’t be available.
“Hopefully the boys will play well in Delhi as well. We need to continue winning and you never know. I have got one more to play in Bangalore, it’ll be nice to finish on a winning note,” the former Aussie skipper said.
His elbow took a bit of pounding as he took an incredible catch running backwards to dismiss national teammate David Warner but Smith is hoping that the dive has not caused extensive damage to his operated elbow ahead of the World Cup next month.
“Hopefully, my arm is ok, it hurt initially because of the impact. I’ll get to know more once the tape is off,” Smith said after the match. On the match, he praised Liam Livingstone for his attacking knock at the top of the order, which set the platform for a safe chase.
“Liam Livingstone was magnificent as he played with freedom and got us off to a good start. Samson finished things off nicely,” the skipper said.