Rajasthan Royals pulled off an impressive three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in the 23rd match of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Sunday, April 16, to further solidify their lead in the points table. Both in-form teams produced another thrilling encounter at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium, with the game in the balance until the last over. Shubman Gill and David Miller produced crucial 40-plus knocks to post a challenging total of 177/7 while batting first as Rajasthan Royals bowlers struggled.
Gujarat bowlers added some early impressive spells as Rajasthan were struggling at 66/4 after 12 overs, and the required run rate rocketed to 14.00. But Sanju Samson balanced the game in the 13th by smashing three consecutive sixes off Rashid Khan. Samson top-scored with 60 off 32 before getting caught out in the 15th over, but Shimron Hetmyer went on to smash 56* off 25 to guide Rajasthan Royals to a triumph with four balls to spare.
Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer end Rajasthan's losing streak against Gujarat
Rajasthan Royals fans almost gave up hope when they lost their fourth wicket in the 11th over with just 55 runs on the scoreboard. But Samson played a captain's knock to change the momentum towards Rajasthan. He smashed six sixes, including three consecutive off Rashid, to record his second fifty in IPL 2023.
Hetmyer took charge after Samson's dismissal and stayed unbeaten to produce his first fifty in IPL 2023. He finished the game with a six off Noor Ahmad and bagged the Player of the Match award. With Parag underperforming, Hetmyer has been impressive in donning the finisher's role for Rajasthan with 183 runs at a strike rate of 184.84 this season.
Riyan Parag's struggle continues
Riyan Parag returned to the playing XI, which was a surprise selection from the management. The promising batting all-rounder is only being utilised as a batter this season, but it was another disappointing performance from the youngster. Parag batted at number five, ahead of Hetmyer, but managed to contribute just five runs off seven balls before getting out while attempting a big shot over the long-off. Parag has scored just 39 runs from four innings at a poor strike rate of 108.33 in IPL 2023.
Shubman Gill enters the Orange Cap race
Shubman Gill scored 45 off 34 and missed registering his third half-century of the 2023 season. The youngster has carried his red-hot form in international cricket to the IPL as he enters the IPL Orange Cap race this season. Gill has scored 228 runs from five innings with two fifties so far and is only six runs behind the leading run-scorer Venkatesh Iyer.
Losing captain, Hardik Pandya said
To be honest no (didn't expect the loss after the powerplay), but that's the beauty about this game. The game is never over till it's over, another lesson for us. (Noor Ahmad) He's someone who's difficult to pick, got us the big breakthrough but the other bowlers didn't execute. Body is good, everything is good. It's a very long tournament. A lot of matches left, we still need to play a lot of group cricket even if we had won today. (On Gujarat's score) I felt short. After I got out, they bowled a couple of good overs, but we should have gone a little harder and got to 200. We did cover it well but when I was watching from outside, I did feel that we were 10 runs maybe short.
Winning captain, Sanju Samson said
When you play quality opponents on a quality wicket, you get such games. Very happy to compete in such a game and come out on top. It was important to rotate our bowlers, they were playing some quality cricket and we had to respect that. The whole team came up well today and we could restrict them to around 170. The start we had, it shows how good a wicket this was. The new ball the quality of swing bowling was good and we had to respect that. But today Zampa coming was a way to match-up with the opponents. He was the match-up for Miller and almost got the wicket, but the catch was dropped. (On Hetmyer) He doesn't like easy situations, we like putting him in such situations because he usually wins us games from such situations.
Player of the Match, Shimron Hetmyer said
I don't have any words. Difficult to win against these guys, they beat us thrice last year but today was sort of a revenge. I practise these situations, it helps when you practise with that mindset of knowing we are few wickets down and chasing 100 with 8 overs to go. (On Noor Ahmad bowling the final over) I was actually pretty happy to be honest, he bowled well throughout so the first ball all I was thinking about was getting that double and take it from there.
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