Rajasthan Royals paced their chase to near-perfection to overcome Gujarat Titans in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.
Chasing a challenging 178 for victory, the Royals not only got off to a slow start, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and found themselves struggling at 55/4 in 10.3 overs.
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However, their skipper Sanju Samson led the charge thereafter, hitting 60 (32b, 3×4, 6×6) and once he got out to spinner Noor Ahmad, Shimron Hetmyer took over smashing 56 off 26 balls (2×4, 5×6) as RR scampered home in 19.2 overs with three wickets intact.
The win took the Royals to eight points in five games and they now lead the 10-team table. The Titans, on the other hand, have six points in five games and find themselves in the 3rd place.
Pragyan Ojha, an expert with JioCinema for the IPL, criticised Gujarat’s bowling attack for crumbling under pressure, saying: “When you’re bowling second, the dew factor will play a part. The ball won’t find the grip as it did earlier in the innings, so the length was hard to perfect. Even Rashid Khan missed. Either it was going a little up or it was so short that the batter was getting time.
“I think they’ll have to think about this. We’ve seen Mohammed Shami as well, the way he was bowling earlier, when the ball wasn’t doing anything extra, even he was missing the length. Even Hardik said that their length could have been better and the RR batters grabbed the opportunity with both hands.”
Ojha, however, was all praise for the fight Hetmyer brought to the contest. “The way he used the dimensions, knowing that the dew factor will be very important. The clarity with which he came out to bat is worthy of praise and he’s been doing this for his team. He comes late in the game and it’s not easy to consistently score runs but he did it,” Ojha said.
Brett Lee, another expert with JioCinema for the IPL, lauded Samson’s effort and expressed his desire to see him play more often for India.
“It’s really special with Sanju Samson. The way he played tonight, just solidified that he should play a lot more cricket for India right now. To peel off 60 off 32 balls, under pressure, he’s got power from somewhere. He’s a biggish bloke with upper body strength. His innings tonight justified why they got across the line.”
Royal Challengers Bangalore face Chennai Super Kings on Monday at 7:30 pm, live on JioCinema
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