Rajasthan Royals made it four wins from five matches to move to the top of the table as they beat Gujarat Titans in Match 23 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Spectacular half-centuries from Sanju Samson (60 off 32) and Shimron Hetmyer (56* off 26) helped RR pull off a stunning chase against the Titans after Shubman Gill’s opening act of 45(34) and David Miller’s finishing act of 46(30) had propelled GT to a competitive 177/7.
Chasing 178, RR got off to a stuttering start as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early, caught at slip, off Hardik Pandya in the second over. Mohd Shami then struck a huge blow as he cleaned up the in-form Jos Buttler who shuffled way across and went for a scoop but missed it completely. It was high quality pace bowling from Shami and Pandya that rocked RR early.
Padikkal then looked to counter attack as he hit two sixes and a four but in between he got lucky as he was dropped on 13 by Shubman Gill at slip, off Shami. RR trudged to 26/2 at the end of Powerplay.
Samson and Padikkal looked to up the scoring with a six and a couple of fours but then Rashid Khan arrived and sent back Padikkal (26 off 25) off just the third ball of his spell. He struck again in his next over, dismissing Riyan Parag (5 off 7) as he mistimed one to long off where Miller pouched a good low catch. The runs dried up again as RR reached 53/3 at the end of 10 overs.
GT introduced debutant Noor Ahmad as their Impact Player in the 13th over, replacing Shubman Gill.
Samson then upped the ante big time as he went after Rashid Khan, hitting him for four sixes, including three consecutive maximums in one over. Hetmyer joined the party, swinging one over deep backward square leg for a six off Joseph and then for a four over mid-wicket. Samson brought up his fifty off 29 balls, his 19th in the IPL and then went after Noor Ahmad, hammering a six and a four but it was the debutant and Impact Player who had the last laugh as he had Samson caught at long off for 60(32), off the next ball.
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Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel kept the runs flowing as they accumulated 20 runs off the Joseph over to bring the equation down to 44 off 24. Noor Ahmad conceded a four off the first ball of the next over but finished well conceding a total of just 8 runs.
Hetmyer smashed a six and a four off Rashid in the next over as RR accumulated 13 from the over. With 23 needed from 12, Jurel smacked the first ball of the penultimate over from Shami for a six straight down the ground. But Shami bounced back the next ball to have him caught at fine leg for 18(10), off a short ball. R Ashwin arrived at the crease and got off the mark in style, slashing one through point for four and then pulled one over deep mid-wicket for a six to bring the equation down to 7 off 8. He, however, ended up hitting the next one uppishly, straight to backward point. Boult swung and missed at the last ball of the 19th over.
Hardik handed the ball to debutant Noor to bowl the final over. But it was Hetmyer who came out on top as he took a two off the first ball and then smacked the next one for a six over deep mid-wicket to win it for RR.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl. They made three changes to their starting XI as Riyan Parag, Trent Boult and Adam Zampa replaced Devdutt Padikkal, Kuldeep Sen and Jason Holder. They named Devdutt Padikkal, Murugan Ashwin, Donovan Ferreira, Navdeep Saini and Joe Root as their substitutes.
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Gujarat Titans made one change to the starting XI with Abhinav Manohar replacing Josh Little. They named Josh Little, Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmad, KS Bharat and Dasun Shanaka as their substitutes.
Trent Boult did Trent Boult things to start off as he picked a wicket in the first over. Saha hit a four off the second ball but the RR pacer induced a top edge off the next ball as two fielders and the keeper converged to take the catch and collided, the ball popped up off keeper Samson’s glove but Boult was standing just there to accept the catch.
RR bowled with discipline and didn’t give away much in the first five overs. They got one more wicket in the Powerplay as Buttler and Samson combined to run Sai Sudharsan out. in the Powerplay. They conceded just six fours. Shubman Gill then upped the ante as he hit two fours off Ashwin to take the score to 42/2 at the end of the Powerplay. Hardik Pandya then welcomed Adam Zampa into the attack with a six and a four. Gill continued to attack Ashwin as he hit a four and a six in his second over as Gujarat Titans reached 88/2 at the halfway mark.
Chahal then broke the partnership to send back Hardik Pandye (28 off 19). RR pulled things back from there and could have had the wicket of Miller as well but Adam Zampa couldn’t hold on to a caught and bowled chance. Miller released some pressure with a six off Chahal but GT lost Gill (45 off 34) in the next over as Sandeep Sharma had him caught at long off.
Things slowed down again and again it was Miller who broke the shackles with a six off Chahal.
RR brought on their Impact Player – Devdutt Padikkal (replacing Chahal) in the 18th over.
Abhinav Manohar then went berserk hitting two sixes off Boult and one off Zampa before departing for a 13-ball 27-run cameo.
Miller hit two consecutive fours in the final over but departed for 46(30) as he hit one straight to deep Point as GT took 11 from the over and post 177/7.
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