West Indies batsman Shimron Hetmyer unleashed his full fury on Gujarat Titans as Rajasthan Royals thrashed the defending champions by three wickets with four balls to spare in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday. With this win, the Royals broke the shackles of the Hardik Pandya-led side’s first three-match unbeaten streak and are at the top of the table with eight points. The 2008 IPL champions could manage just 26 runs in the powerplay, losing 4 wickets for 2 at one stage, losing Yashasvi Jaiswal (4) and Jos Buttler (0).
The 26-year-old Hetmyer changed the complexion of the game by scoring an unbeaten 56 off 26 balls. The innings was studded with two fours and five sixes, and came at a time when things were looking bleak for the Sanju Samson-led side.
Samson scored 60 runs in 32 balls.
Pacers Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya bowled well as Gujarat Titans took an early lead and pushed Royals into a tight corner.
With 177 against a team full of batting stars like Buttler, Jaiswal, Samson and Devdutt Padikkal the total didn’t seem like any sort of defense – the best option was for Shami and Pandya to let the ball do the talking.
Not long after Shubman Gill (45) and Pandya (28) put on a 59-run partnership to get the Titans out of trouble, the skipper combined with Mohammed Shami, whose pace and swing rattled the RR top-order. kept the tax Batsman.
Pandya induced Jaiswal to play an absurdly short one with the batsman opening the face of the bat for a delivery outside off-stump to give Gill practice catching catches in the slips.
With pressure mounting in the powerplay – and the high standards the Royals have set in six overs to make-or-break – Buttler temporarily committed himself to a stroke he otherwise would not have played.
The while-ball captain of England turned his back to a delivery seaming towards the off stump and missed an attempt to scoop at fine leg, resulting in his off stump being dislodged from the ground.
This left the pair of Padikkal and Samson with the unenviable task of rebuilding the house from scratch. The 26 runs that Royals scored in the powerplay was a testament to the length of Pandya and Shami’s bowling.
But then the rebuilding job was told in true sense, with Samson and Padikkal (26) sharing a 43-run partnership and then the captain sharing a 59-run partnership with Riyan Parag (5). Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel’s partnership then took off towards the business end, with the West Indies doing the bulk of the scoring.
There were some worrying moments when both Jurel and Ashwin fell in quick succession, but Hetmel completed the task with another massive six.
Earlier, Gill’s calm demeanor in the face of adversity and skipper Hardik Pandya’s quick understanding of the situation came to the fore again as his half-century helped Gujarat Titans post 177 for seven.
South African left-handers David Miller (46 off 30 balls) and Abhinav Manohar (27 off 13) provided the final flourish, sharing a 45-run partnership studded with three fours and five sixes.
Gill (45) and Pandya (28) came together at a time when the powerplay score looked far from ideal. And, with two players back in the dugout, the defending champions looked vulnerable. The 59-run partnership not only breathed life into the match, but it also helped the defending champions launch a full-scale attack in the death overs.
At 42 for 2 at the end of the powerplay and Wriddhiman Saha (4) and young Sai Sudarshan (20) going cheaply, it was left to the skipper and one of his most trusted team-mates to turn things around for the Titans. was given.
Initially, Gill played a game of waiting, smashing a comfortable boundary through extra cover off New Zealand pacer Trent Boult’s length ball off the last ball of the third over.
Pandya and Gill picked the seventh and eighth overs bowled by Adam Zampa and Ravichandran Ashwin for some special treatment, with the Titans skipper hitting the Australian for a six and a four in the seventh over, and the pair took 17 runs in eight overs. scored runs by Ashwin.