Morris warns crunch time has arrived, says no more slip-ups

Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Chris Morris said the biggest problem plaguing the side is the team "not winning the big moments of the game" even as fielding remains a huge area of concern moving forward.

A few dropped catches coupled with skipper Sanju Samson not getting support from other batsmen was the bane as RR suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, dealing a huge blow to their playoffs qualification chances.

South African Morris, who himself was off colour, going wicket-less in the three overs he bowled said that, "At the moment we are not performing in the big moments… when the big moments come, in bowling or batting, I don't think we are winning them. There was a very big moment in our first game which we won, apart from that we haven't by any means played our best cricket," said Morris.

He said that barring Sanju Samson, who played a masterful 57-ball 82-run knock, none of the other batsmen played to potential. Opener Evin Lewis (6) and Liam Livingstone (4) were dismissed cheaply leaving the skipper to rebuild the innings.

"Sanju played a seriously good knock on a very difficult and tricky wicket, but the bowling wasn't good enough. The fielding really needs to pull its socks up... unfortunately we gave quite a few runs away and also dropped a crucial catch, so we have to address that before the next game.

"My statement always says the 'sun will come up tomorrow and we'll move forward', and it's crunch time for us now… we'll have to pull our socks up in the big moments of the game," said Morris, effectively ringing the warning bells.


RR are currently on eight points from 10 matches and placed sixth on the table.

"It's crunch time now, we need to start stringing some important results together. I'd like to say that when the big moments of the game (arrive), we need to grab every single point we possibly can - IANS