Jaipur (Rajasthan): The Gujarat Giants (GT) once again sealed their place at the top of the table in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with a 9-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Friday at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
It was a spin show from Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad which allowed GT to produce a comfortable win as they chased the target of 119 with more than six overs to spare.
Chasing a target of just 119, Gujarat Titans openers – Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha got off to a bright start. The fifty partnership was up for the opening duo in the seventh over. RR were still searching for the all-important breakthrough as GT openers took the game further away from the home side. Yuzvendra Chahal finally provided the wicket by dismissing Shubman Gill who was out stumped for a score of 36(35).
However, captain Hardik Pandya, who walked in to bat at number 3, hammered three sixes and a four against Adam Zampa, who conceded 24 runs in his third over. The Gujarat Titans captain raced off to 37* in just 13 balls. Within a single over GT only needed 5 more runs to win. Wriddhiman Saha hit the winning runs as GT registered a comprehensive 9-wicket win over RR in a dominating fashion.
Earlier, choosing to bat first backfired on Rajasthan as they lost early wickets. Key batter Jos Buttler was dismissed by GT skipper Hardik Pandya in the 2nd over. Jos Buttler scored just eight runs off six balls.
Already jolted by the loss of an early wicket, RR received another blow after Yashasvi Jaiswal was run out amid the chaos. He scored 14 runs off 11 balls.
At the end of the powerplay, RR crossed the 50-run mark by losing two crucial wickets.
Joshua Little took Samson’s wicket. The Sunrisers skipper scored 30 off 20 balls.
In the 8th over, Rashid Khan picked up the wicket of R Ashwin, who was batting at 2 off 6 balls.
Devdutt Padikkal continued to disappoint, however, as got out of the bowling of Noor Ahmad. In the 14th over, Noor struck again, dismissing Dhruv Jurel for 9 off 8 balls.
Shimron Hetmyer became the target of Rashid Khan’s spin in the 15th over. He scored just 7 off 13 balls.
RR crawled to the 100-run mark in 15 overs.
Mohammed Shami also got himself in the wickets column after castling Trent Boult for 15 off 11 balls.
After Adam Zampa returned to the dugout after being run out by Abhinav Manohar, RR posted a low score of 118, bundling out in 17.5 overs.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans (Wriddhiman Saha 41(34)*, Hardik Pandya 39(15)* and Yuzvendra Chahal 1/22) beat Rajasthan Royals 118 (Sanju Samson 30(20), Rashid Khan 3/14, Noor Ahmad 2/25) by 9 wickets.
