Rajasthan Royals (RR) were brushed aside by the Gujarat juggernaut as Gujarat Titans (GT) registered a thumping 9-wicket victory in this Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
The Royals have now lost 4 out of their last 5 games and their campaign is derailing by a huge margin. Rajasthan will now be hoping to win all their games in order to seal a spot in the playoff race.
Led by skipper Hardik Pandya, Gujarat are sending out a strong statement, that they are a huge force to reckon with in IPL 2023.
In this article, we take a look at the top 3 talking points of the RR vs GT game that took place in Jaipur yesterday:
1. Rashid Khan’s dream spell
Rashid Khan delivered a match-winning spell with the ball as he took 3 wickets and conceded just 14 runs in his quota of 4 overs in this RR vs GT game. It was extremely hard to pick his leg-break deliveries and googlies and batters found it extremely difficult to tackle the Afghan leg-spinner.
Khan won the player of the match award for his scintillating bowling efforts, that powered Gujarat to a victory.
2. Hardik Pandya promotes himself up the order
After not being in the best of form in IPL 2023 with the willow, Hardik Pandya silenced all his critics with a fiery innings in this RR vs GT game. The GT skipper scored 39* runs in just 15 deliveries and his knock was packed with 3 fours and 3 sixes.
Pandya had a strike-rate of 260.00 and led the team from the front in this game with the bat. Hardik Pandya is certainly a leader who leads by example.
3. Riyan Parag’s failure with the bat once again
Guwahati-based cricketer Riyan Parag was once again at the receiving end of a barrage of trolls and hate. He was brought in as an impact player in this game and he failed to get his bearings right.
It was yet another failure for Parag as he was trapped LBW on 4 runs by Rashid Khan. To add to his woes, he took a DRS for a plumb delivery. In 6 IPL 2023 games so far, Parag has only scored 58 runs and has a paltry average of 11.60.
Earlier, he was replaced by Dhruv Jurel and in this game he was only brought in as an impact player as the team was witnessing a massive landslide in terms of wickets.
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 Vice-Captain Picks For CSK vs MI Game
