Rajasthan Royals have paid the heavy price for their lacklustre showing in the IPL 2025. They fell to their eighth defeat of the tournament on Sunday, failing to chase a total of 219 set by Punjab Kings, and again exposed vulnerabilities in their batting unit. However, RR’s head coach Rahul Dravid emphasised that it wasn’t comprehensive to just blame the batting unit for their downfall; bowling was also equally accountable for the side’s gloomy performance.

"It's been a tough one. We've got close, but we haven't been able to finish the job. It's been one of those kind of seasons where you always feel with the ball that we probably give 15-20 runs extra and then you've got yourself in some really good positions to win the games, but we haven't been able to finish the job and a little bit around that lower, lower-middle order we just haven't been able to click and get the big shots that we need,” Dravid said while addressing the press conference. 

"I mean, it's been five games now where the margins have really one or two hits which you need in that phase, which, we just haven't been able to do. So it's not that we've been losing too many wickets, we're still only five down today, but we just haven't been able to hit those shots.”

"There's no point just blaming the batsman. I think with the ball also, to be honest, I didn't think it was a 220 wicket, it was about a 195, 200 wicket, and we gave 20 runs extra,” Dravid said. 

Having already been eliminated from the tournament, Rajasthan are positioned second from the bottom in the points table with three wins in 13 games. They will end their campaign on Tuesday by clashing with Chennai Super Kings in their last match of the IPL 2025.