Gujarat Titans pulled off a quintessential comeback, after a defeat in their previous IPL 2023 league fixture, closing a commanding 9 wicket win over Rajasthan Royals on Friday night in Jaipur.
Though the target was meagre, Gujarat Titans never gave Rajasthan Royals any chance of making a comeback, with the opening pair of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha asserting their dominance right from the get-go.
The powerplay yielded 49 runs for the defending champions – effectively diminishing the Royals’ hopes to a negligible amount, as their strike bowler, Trent Boult was taken to the cleaners.
The onslaught continued even after the fielding restrictions were relaxed, albeit, Rajasthan did have a solitary moment of joy in the second innings. Attempting to clear the fence, Gill danced down the track in the 10th over but could not read the turn off Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling, losing his wicket to a stumping after scoring 36 runs.
In the next over, however, Hardik Pandya announced his arrival in spectacular fashion, as he fashioned three sixes and a four off Adam Zampa’s bowling. The Gujarat skipper remained unbeaten on 39 runs from just 15 deliveries, with Saha being not out on a 34-ball 41, as they chased the total down in only 13.5 overs.
Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad Call the Shots in Jaipur
After being asked to bowl first by Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya’s bowlers bowled the opposition’s formidable batting unit out for only 118 runs.
For the Titans, the tone was set right at the beginning, with their skipper leading by example and showing Jos Buttler the route towards Sawai Mansingh Stadium's pavilion, in only the second over of the match. For the English batter, it was the third instance of being dismissed for a single-digit score, this time contributing only eight runs to his team’s cause.
The next few overs, however, saw Rajasthan recovering from the early setback, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson adding 36 runs for the second-wicket stand. Unfortunately for the Royals, it happened to be the only saving grace from what was otherwise an underwhelming batting performance, with Jaiswal’s wicket triggering a collapse.
The in-form opener was caught in a mix-up with his captain, Sanju Samson, resulting in a run out in the fifth over. Samson could not redeem himself either, as in the very next over, he fell prey to a Joshua Little delivery after scoring 30 runs.
Not for the first time this season, the Rajasthan management played a punt by promoting Ravichandran Ashwin up the order, but the gamble backfired as the all-rounder could not score more than a couple of runs.
That, however, was not the only gamble that the hosts took in this match. Following Ashwin’s dismissal, they threw Riyan Parag into the deep end by utilising their impact player slot, but the youngster scored only four runs before being trapped leg before wicket by Rashid Khan.
Rashid’s Afghanistan teammate, Noor Ahmad got into the act a couple of overs later, as he first dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and then followed it up with Dhruv Jurel’s wicket. At the other end, Rashid’s masterclass had another chapter added to it, with Shimron Hetmyer becoming his third victim from the game.
The last three in Rajasthan’s batting order – Trent Boult, Adam Zampa and Sandeep Sharma – waged a difficult war wherein odds were stacked against them, accumulating 22 runs, but it was not enough to take them beyond the 120-run mark.
For the visitors, spin pairing from Afghanistan stole the show, with Rashid and Noor combining to pick up five wickets, whilst conceding only 39 runs in seven overs.
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