Losing close matches is hard, but RR dugout remains calm, says Bahutule

Rajasthan Royals spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule conceded that losing two close matches on the trot has been hard on the team, but asserted that there is no sense of "panic" in the camp.

The Royals went down to Lucknow Super Giants by two runs on Saturday night, having also lost their previous game to Delhi Capitals in a Super Over.

With just two wins from eight outings, Rajasthan find themselves languishing in eighth place on the points table.

"We've been playing good cricket. It's just that the result has not gone our way. In the dugout, there's a lot of calmness with Rahul (Dravid) being there. Everybody has played enough cricket in that dugout to know that one should not panic," Bahutule said in the post-match press meet.

"But unfortunately, losing by two runs this game and the previous game with the Super Over, it's been hard on us, but that's the way the game goes. T20 is a format where a lot of risk is involved," he added.

Bahutule said they have been trying to minimize the mistakes on the field.

"You make a lot of mistakes and our effort is to minimize those mistakes. When we had a partnership going, we could have finished it a couple of overs before. But Avesh bowled that good over again in the 18th and 20th overs," he said.

The former India spinner said RR missed the presence of skipper Sanju Samson, who sat out of the game with an injury.

Obviously, we missed Sanju. I think they will assess his situation and will let us know, he said and added that debutante Vaibhav Suryavanshi has a bright future ahead.

"I just feel he's a great kid with a really good head on his shoulders. I think he's got a game which is almost 360 degrees. He's brave.

The approach at that age is also very dominating and he wants to play shorts. He doesn't really feel that he is playing against some particular bowler. His theory is to watch the ball and hit the ball."  Bahutule backed Sandeep Sharma despite the pacer leaking 27 runs in the final over that gave LSG an upper hand in the eventual calculations.

"Sandeep is a fabulous bowler. He's always bowled those important and tough overs. In the previous match too, he bowled 2 overs with very few runs, 5 and 7 runs.

"We forget those important overs and we keep emphasising on overs which he has not bowled well. But I think for us, he is a 100% giver and the team backs him.