Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson wants his squad to embrace "failures" and has challenged players to raise their hands and demonstrate excellence when the IPL's business end begins next week. Despite four consecutive defeats, the Royals are 16 points ahead of the play-offs after Delhi Capitals defeated Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday, thanks to their outstanding performance in the first half of the tournament.

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Sanju Samson says team needs individuals to step up

"To be very honest, we have to sit back and accept that we are going through some failures," Samson told at the post-match presentation ceremony after losing to Punjab Kings by five wickets.

"You have to find out what's not working well as a team. When you are getting to the business end, we need someone to raise their finger up and say I am going to win the game for the team," Samson said.

The skipper believes that there is enough talent in the team which can show individual spark under pressure.

"We have the players who can do that if all of us try that. It's a team sport, but this is the time when we need individual players to step up." He felt that 144 for 9 was a below-par batting effort.

"We were expecting wicket to be a touch better. I think it's not a 140-kind of a wicket, we should have got around 160. I think that's where we lost the game." With wickets falling at regular intervals, Royals were forced to use Donovan Ferreira as an Impact Sub and missed a bowler.

"Would have been nicer to have one more bowling option, gets a little tough when you have just five. But I am used to it. And we have quality five bowlers." 

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Sam Curran leads PBKS to victory over RR

Punjab Kings skipper Sam Curran, who also won 'Player of the Match' award for his unbeaten 63 runs and two wickets with the ball spoke about the positives from the tournament despite finishing ninth.

 "I've thoroughly enjoyed the season, thoroughly enjoyed captaining. Quite frustrating to leave, but obviously excited about the World Cup," said Curran, who won't play the last game.

"Over the next few seasons, if we can keep some of the really good players, we can go better. Lots of positives. The chase against KKR. Shashank Singh has been amazing, Ashutosh (Sharma) in his debut season. Harshal and Arshdeep have done well as well."

(With inputs from PTI)