In the 23rd match of IPL 2023, Rajasthan Royals won on Sunday. They found redemption after breaking their winless streak against Gujarat Titans in the IPL as the Sanju Samson-led side registered a 3-wicket win. Interestingly, both the teams faced each other in the final of the 2022 season of the tournament when the Hardik Pandya-led side lifted the trophy. However, RR staged a comeback in this edition to remain the table-toppers.
In the match, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl first. Gujarat Titans gave a target of 178 runs to Rajasthan Royals. In reply, Rajasthan chased down the target in just 19.2 overs with three wickets remaining. Shimron Hetmyer and captain Sanju Samson played impressive innings to win their team a thrilling encounter.
Chasing a big target, the performance of RR openers was outstanding. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored only 1 run and Jos Buttler returned to the hut without opening an account. After this Devdutt Padikkal and Sanju Samson stitched a good partnership and stabilized the innings. The momentum that was on Gujarat’s side changed in the 13th over when RR skipper Sanju hit Rashid Khan for three consecutive sixes in the over. Sanju scored 60 off 32 balls before being dismissed by GT debutant Noor Ahmed. While Devdutt contributed 26 runs, Riyan Parag managed to score 5 runs. However, in the end Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel played fiery innings and the game was no less than a thriller. Shimron Hetmyer played a knock of 56 including 6 to end the game in style. Jurel 18 (10) and Ravichandran Ashwin 10 (3) made impressive cameos.
Mohammed Shami took 3 wickets for Gujarat Titans. Rashid Khan got 2 wickets in his account and spent 46 runs in four overs. Noor Ahmed and Hardik Pandya took one wicket each. On the other hand, Alzarri Joseph could not get a single wicket.
Gujarat Titans got off to a very poor start. When Wriddhiman Saha got out after scoring just 4 runs. After this Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan batted well. Gill contributed 45 runs and Sudarshan contributed 20 runs. Hardik Pandya was able to score only 28 runs but registered a unique record in his name. He became the 6th player in IPL history to score 2000 runs and take 50 wickets. David Miller hit it big in the end and scored 46 off 30 balls before getting out. Abhinav Manohar played an inning of 27 runs.
head-to-head details
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- Total Matches Played – 4
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- Matches won by RR – 1
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- GT-3 won the matches