Photo Courtesy : BCCI/IPL

Xtra Time Web Desk : Rajasthan Royals on Friday became the 3rd team in this year's Indian Premier League after debutants in Gujarat Titans & Lucknow Super Giants to qualify for the playoffs stages of the cash rich tournament, courtesy of their 5 wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

Restricting the CSK side to just 150 in their 20 overs, Sanju Samson's Royals chased down the target quite comfortably with 5 wickets remaining in hand, courtesy of some brilliant batting by their batters.

And in the post match presentation ceremony, winning skipper Sanju Samson in the post match presentation ceremony said, "Feels good. The way we've played throughout the league stage stands out. We've had great games where almost everyone has stood up to win games. We deserve to be in this position is what I feel. It was important to understand that the wicket was good and they just kept going. It's hard to stop someone like Moeen Ali. It was okay to go for runs. We knew we could believe in our bowlers to come back stronger, we came back stronger than expected to give just 75 after the powerplay. I wanted to bring McCoy over when the powerplay was done and he was more confident and comfortable. He used his change-ups and is maturing as a cricketer really well. There were nerves with the bat with cricket being a funny game, them having good bowlers, and the pitch being stoppy. Ashwin has done a great job and has turned out to be a great all-rounder for us. He batted a lot in the nets before the season."

Rajasthan Royals will now play table toppers Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1 of the playoffs stage, which is to be played in Kolkata on May 24.

We deserve to be in this position is what I feel : Sanju Samson | IPL 2022