Shane Bond, the team’s bowling coach, took stock of their efforts thus far and lamented that they had lost games after controlling the majority of them.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) first-season winners have failed to duplicate their 2008 success, and it appears that they may have to wait at least another year before they can once again bring honour to the team. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) have lost multiple games from winning situations in the 2025 Indian Premier League, making it a case of squandered opportunities. With just two victories in nine games, the team is currently in ninth place on the points table and faces the very real possibility of missing the playoffs.

The Kiwi admitted that the squad was harmed and believed they were probably out of the running for the playoffs. Nevertheless, he urged the players to make the most of the remaining games and give it their all.

“The most difficult thing is that we have performed incredibly well throughout the course of the 35 games, even taking control in a few of them and likely putting ourselves in situations to win. According to, Bond stated, “You have to give credit to the opposition; they were good enough in those tight moments to go over top of us and win those games.”

That’s what hurts us, I guess. There’s nothing we can do about it at this point, but we’re at two victories and seven defeats. Go, god, where could we sit on the table? There is still a lot to play for even if we are most likely eliminated from the competition based on the points table. We obviously want to end the season strong and keep playing well as a team, but there are also many reasons for players to want to stay with the team for the upcoming season,” Bond continued.

Shane Bond defends bowlers and blames hitters for failing to complete games.

Bond cited the inability of batters to complete matches as one of the causes of RR’s problems. Even though the bowlers have occasionally been costly, the Kiwi thought that other teams have also experienced this, and that the difference is in the batting performances at the end and after the Powerplay overs.

It’s undeniable that we’ve had some big overs. We’ve also had some bowlers who have had a bad day, but that’s likely the case for many bowlers and teams during the tournament. We have bowled well as a team, especially in the previous three games, and have held the opposition to few runs. Maybe we ought to have chased down,” Bond remarked.