South African all-rounder Chris Morris was pretty satisfied with his Man of the Match performance from Thursday that helped the Rajasthan Royals to their first win of the 2021 IPL.
After going for a record price in the IPL auction, the focus was very much on Morris to see if he can help his team over the line against the Delhi Capitals as the Royals batsmen struggled in their pursuit of the target of 148.
Morris rolled back the years with a brilliant batting onslaught towards the end, which included two sixes off Kagiso Rabada in the penultimate over and two more big ones from Tom Curran during the final over, sealing a narrow three-wicket victory for the Royals.
READ: Miller, Morris combine in Rajasthan triumph
‘That happens every now and then in the game of cricket, I thought Delhi played really well. Dave played a great hand and it went out way,’ Morris, who also claimed one wicket, said after the match.
‘I think the dew plays a part here. I think they hit the length a lot better than we did and they got a lot of guys skying with the extra bounce. But we would have taken a chase of 140-odd. There are guys that get paid to bat and guys that get paid to slog, and I know which I am. That’s why I play so much golf. I think the last game, that close game, we took a lot as a team.’
Countryman David Miller also starred with the bat, hitting 62 from 43 as he replaced the injured Ben Stokes in the team.
The win will provide the Royals with some much needed confidence after losing their opening match last week, where Morris and Sanju Samson came close to pulling off a win against the Punjab Kings.
‘For us to get as close on the day, we took a lot out of that first game of ours. Nice to know we can win from anywhere after being down in the dumps,’ Morris explained on Thursday.
Needing five runs to get from the final two balls against Punjab, Samson, who had already surpassed his century at that stage, turned down a single that would’ve given Morris the strike for the final ball.
Instead, Samson tried going for the spectacular but was caught on the boundary, leaving a few raised eyebrows as to why he didn’t trust Morris with the responsibility.
‘I was gonna run back no matter what because Sanju was hitting it so sweetly. People underestimate how fast I run. Sanju was hitting it like a dream that night,’ Morris added about the outcome of that game.
