The Rajasthan Royals displayed an impressive performance as they secured their fourth win in five matches to climb to the top of the table in the TATA IPL 2023. In a thrilling encounter against the Gujarat Titans in Match 23 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Rajasthan Royals chased down a challenging target of 178 runs to win the game.
Earlier in the match, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl. The match between GT and RR in TATA IPL 2023 started with a bang as Trent Boult showed his prowess by picking up a wicket in the very first over. GT’s opening batsman, Wriddhiman Saha, hit a four off the second ball but fell victim to Boult’s well-directed bouncer on the next ball.
Despite the early wicket, RR’s bowlers bowled with discipline and didn’t give away much in the first five overs of the innings. They struck again in the Powerplay, as Buttler and Samson combined to run out Sai Sudharsan. They conceded just six fours during the Powerplay, but Shubman Gill then stepped up the ante by hitting two fours off Ashwin to take GT’s score to 42/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
Hardik Pandya joined Gill in the middle and welcomed Adam Zampa into the attack with a six and a four. Gill continued to attack Ashwin, hitting a four and a six in his second over as GT reached 88/2 at the halfway mark of the innings. However, Chahal broke the partnership by dismissing Hardik Pandya for 28 runs off 19 balls.
RR brought on their Impact Player, Devdutt Padikkal, to replace Chahal in the 18th over. However, Abhinav Manohar, who had just come to the crease, went berserk and hit two sixes off Boult and one-off Zampa before departing for a quickfire cameo of 27 runs off 13 balls. Miller hit two consecutive fours in the final over but departed for 46 runs off 30 balls as he hit one straight to deep point. GT managed to score 11 runs from the final over, posting a challenging total of 177/7 on the board.
In reply, the chase did not start smoothly for the Rajasthan Royals as they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal early, caught at slip, off Hardik Pandya in the second over. Jos Buttler, who had been in great form, also fell cheaply as he was cleaned up by Mohd Shami while attempting a scoop shot. The Titans’ pace bowling duo of Shami and Pandya were on fire and rocked the Rajasthan Royals early on.
Padikkal tried to counter-attack and hit a couple of sixes and a four, but he was lucky as he was dropped on 13 by Shubman Gill at slip-off Shami. Despite Padikkal’s efforts, the Rajasthan Royals could only manage 26/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
Sanju Samson and Padikkal looked to accelerate the scoring with some boundaries, but then Rashid Khan came into the attack and struck, dismissing Padikkal and Riyan Parag in quick succession. The runs dried up for the Rajasthan Royals as they reached 53/3 at the halfway mark of their innings.
The Gujarat Titans introduced debutant Noor Ahmad as their Impact Player in the 13th over, replacing Shubman Gill. However, Samson decided to take charge and launched a blistering counter-attack against Rashid Khan, hitting him for four sixes in one over, including three consecutive maximums. Shimron Hetmyer also joined in the assault, smashing one over deep backward square leg for a six off Alzarri Joseph and then hitting a four over mid-wicket.
Samson brought up his half-century off just 29 balls, but he was caught at long-off by Noor Ahmad off the next ball, ending his impressive innings of 60 runs off 32 balls. Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel then kept the momentum going as they accumulated 20 runs off Joseph’s over, bringing the required run rate down to 44 off 24 balls.
Noor Ahmad conceded a four off the first ball of the next over, but he finished well, giving away only 8 runs. Hetmyer smashed a six and a four off Rashid Khan in the following over, and with 23 runs needed from 12 balls, Jurel hit a crucial six straight down the ground off Shami.
However, Shami struck back to have Jurel caught at fine leg for 18 runs off 10 balls with a short ball. R Ashwin came to the crease and hit a four and a six to bring the equation down to 7 runs off 8 balls, but he was caught at the backward point off the next delivery. Trent Boult failed to connect with the last ball of the 19th over.
In the final over, Hetmyer took a double off the first ball and then smashed a six over deep mid-wicket off the next ball to seal the victory for the Rajasthan Royals. Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 56 runs off 26 balls, playing a crucial role in the thrilling chase.
