Picture : BCCI
Rajasthan Royals after initial jolts bounced backed superbly to beat defending Champions Gujarat Titans by three wickets at the the Narendra Modi Stadium in their Tata IPL 2023 encounter.
Earlier, RR Skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to field first . GT lost opener Wriddhiman Saha early caught and bowled by Trent Boult for 4. Shubman Gill in fine form his 45 off 34 balls . Sai Sudharsan was run- out for 20. Skipper Hardik Pandya scored 28. Abhinav Manohar ( 27 ). The big- hitting David Miller once again came up with key innings and scored a vital 46 off 30 balls. Miller’s late surge propelled GT to reach 177/ 7 in their 20 overs.
RR bowlers had done well to restrict the GT batting line- up. Trent Boult was bit expensive in his second spell with 1/ 46 ( 4 overs), Sandeep Sharma 2/ 25 ( 4 overs) was impressive. Adam Zampa 1/32 (4 overs) , Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 37 ( 4 overs) , Yuzvendra Chahal 1/ 36 ( 4 overs)
In reply RR got off to a horror start with 4/2 . Yashasvi Jaiswal (1) and dangerous Jos Buttler out (0). Devdutt Padikkal 26 put innings on track. Skipper Sanju Samson in good form , once again showed his his class with range of shots . Samson was brilliant in his 32 ball 60 ( 3 fours, 6 sixes) . He some how fell at a wrong time . Riyan Parag flopped again out for 5. But the team got important cameo knocks which proved crucial at the end with Dhruv Jurel 18 off 10, Ravichandran Ashwin 10 off 3 . The RR finish was done by the spectacular onslaught by Shimron Hetmyer . Known for his power finish Shimron Hetmyer stunned Gujarat Titans with a superb unbeaten 26 ball 56 studded with 2 fours and five sixes including the winning shot by four balls to spare . Trent Boult was the other not out batsman .
RR romping home in style by three wickets reaching 179/ 7 in 19.2 overs. The look at GT skipper Hardik Pandya’s face after the loss said it all. KKR’s Rinku Singh had earlier snatched their victory and now Shimron Hetmyer had done the repeat.
GT bowling figures read : Mohammed Shami 3/ 25 ( 4 overs) , Hardik Pandya 1/ 24 ( 4 overs), Alzarri Joseph 0/ 47 ( 4 overs), Rashid Khan was expensive for a change 2/ 46 ( 4 overs) , Mohit Sharma 0/7 ( 2 overs) , Noor Ahmad 1/ 28 ( 2. 2 overs)
RR Impact Player: Devdutt Padikkal replaces Yuzvendra Chahal
GT Impact Player: Noor Ahmad replaces Shubman Gill
Match: IPL 2023, 23rd Match
Venue: Ahmedbad | Date: April 16, 2023
