Furious Riyan Parag rips RR teammates apart after Royals suffer hat-trick of losses: 'Extremely disappointed'

Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag slammed his teammates following their five-wicket loss at the hands of Delhi Capitals in New Delhi on Sunday, leaving their path to the Indian Premier League playoffs further complicated.

The Royals appeared set for a match-winning score in the range of 220 after they were invited to bat by DC at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, thanks to half-centuries from Dhruv Jurel (53) and Parag (51) as well as a sparkling 46 off 21 balls from explosive opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. RR, however, lost wickets in a heap in the last six overs of their innings, going from 161/2 to 193/8, finishing more than 20 runs short with senior Australian pacer Mitchell Starc (4/40) playing a key role in DC's fightback.

Delhi openers KL Rahul (56) and Abhishek Porel (51) later slammed half-centuries and shared a 105-run opening stand to lay the foundation for a successful chase. Thought the Capitals lost wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs, the Rahul-Porel partnership as well as Axar Patel (34 not out) and Ashutosh Sharma's (18 not out) unbeaten knocks ensured DC got over the line in their final home game of the season.

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'If we do not qualify, it's our fault'

RR were also guilty of poor fielding along with some ordinary bowling while defending a sub-200 total. The costliest of those misfields occurred in the second ball of DC's chase when Yash Raj Punja spilled a regulation catch at short fine off Jofra Archer's bowling to hand Rahul a lifeline on nought.

"Very poor (fielding). I feel if you want to win a trophy, if you want to be contending every single year, you've got to be better than what we've done today. Extremely disappointed. I feel we are a way better team than what we've played or shown in the last four-five games," Parag said following his team's defeat in the national capital.

"After coming from a break, I feel what we've shown today, energy-wise, skill-wise, execution-wise, is definitely not up to the mark. And if we keep on playing like this, we shouldn't be in contention for the top four. I think that's (qualification) depending on a lot of other teams as well. That is not how I like to lead. That is not how I like to speak to my team as well. That, oh, we need these guys to keep on losing so we can win two games.

"We've had the opportunity, we've not taken it. So if we do not qualify, it's our fault. No-one else's. And yeah, next two games, we'll see what we can do better and hopefully get two wins," the visibly furious Royals skipper added.

Delhi Capitals keep faint playoff hopes alive

Delhi's victory in the evening fixture of the Sunday double-header helped them snap a five-match losing run at their home ground and has now taken them level. More importantly, it keeps their faint playoff hopes alive for now and takes them level with the Royals and Chennai Super Kings on 12 points – although RR and CSK both have an additional game in hand.

RR, meanwhile, had begun the season with four consecutive wins but have now lost six of their last eight outings, completing a hat-trick of losses in Delhi on Sunday. Whether they return to the playoffs after finishing ninth out of 10 teams last year, however, will depend on how they are in their last two matches of the season – against Lucknow Super Giants at home and against Mumbai Indians away, both teams already eliminated from the playoffs race.