'We are probably out of the tournament' - Shane Bond reflects on Rajasthan Royals' failures in IPL 2025

The champions of the first season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have not been able to replicate the success of 2008 and it looks like they might have to wait for at least one more year to get a chance to bring glory to the franchise again. The IPL 2025 has been a case of missed opportunities for Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they have lost several matches from winning positions. The team stands at the ninth position on the points table with just two wins out of nine matches and face a highly likely prospect of missing the playoffs.

The team's bowling coach Shane Bond reflected on the performances so far and rued the fact that they lost matches after dominating the majority part of them. The Kiwi acknowledged that it indeed hurt the team and felt that they are most likely out of the playoffs race. But, nevertheless, he encouraged the players to utilise the remaining matches and give their best.

"The hardest thing is that, for 35 overs of games we have played really well and in fact have been in control in some games and probably got into positions where we should have won. You have to give credit to the opposition, they were good enough in those tight moments to go over the top of us and win those games," said Bond as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"I suppose that's what hurts us. We're 2 (wins) and 7 (losses), and go, jeez, where we could sit on the table, but there's nothing we can do about that now. We're probably out of the tournament in terms of the points table, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot to play for. Obviously, as a team, we want to make sure we finish the season strong and continue playing well, but also for individuals there's a lot to play for, for the next season, wanting to stay with the franchise," added Bond.

Bond defends bowlers, pins responsibility on batters for not finishing matches

When asked about the reasons for RR's woes Bond mentioned batters not being able to finish matches off. Although the bowlers have been expensive on some occasions the Kiwi believed that it has been the same with other teams as well and the difference lies in batting performances after the Powerplay overs and at the death.

"We've had some big overs, there's no denying that, we've had some bowlers who have had some tough days but that's probably been the same for a number of bowlers and teams throughout the tournament. Collectively as a bowling unit, especially over the last three games, we've done a pretty good job and kept the opposition to scores, perhaps we should have chased down," said Bond.

RR play their next match against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday, April 28 in Jaipur.