Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Riyan Parag felt that his team missed a trick by not being aggressive enough against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) spinners, which ultimately cost them another narrow loss—this time by 11 runs in Bengaluru. Chasing a manageable target, RR needed just 18 runs from the final 12 balls. But Josh Hazlewood turned the game with a brilliant penultimate over, conceding only one run and picking up the key wickets of a well-set Dhruv Jurel and Jofra Archer on back-to-back deliveries. Yash Dayal then held his nerve to defend 16 runs in the last over.

This marked RR's third consecutive defeat in a chase where they were in control. In their previous two matches—against Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)—they needed just nine runs from the final over but couldn’t cross the finish line. Despite most RCB pacers leaking runs at over 11 an over, their spinners were the difference-makers in the middle overs.

Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma both kept things tight, giving away just 31 runs each in their four-over spells. Krunal also made a crucial impact with the ball, removing Parag with his very first delivery and later dismissing Nitish Rana in his third over.

"I think we did really well with the ball," Parag said after the game. "It was probably like a 210 to 220 wicket. We held them back really well. With our batting halfway through our innings, we were in the driver's seat. We needed probably eight and a half runs per over in the last 10-11 overs. I think we've got ourselves to blame, we didn't show enough intent against the spinners. We could have executed our batting a little bit better."

When asked how much of it was a mental challenge, Parag said: "The support staff has given us a lot of freedom. The onus is on the players and ourselves that we need to go ahead and show that freedom and show performances with intent and play freely. It's a tournament where if you make one slight mistake, you're gonna pay for it. And that's what happened today."