Cricket Highlights, 06 May: IPL 2023 (Match 48) – Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans

Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans (Match 48) – Highlights

The innings of Rajasthan Royals (RR) was narrowly ended by the brilliant bowling performances of two Afghan spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad of Gujarat Titans (GT). After winning the toss and batting first on Friday (May 5), the Royals were able to score only 118 runs after losing all wickets in 17.5 overs. In reply, Titans reached the port of victory after losing only 1 wicket in 13.5 overs.

GT’s two openers Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha have made the task of chasing runs easy. RR was knocked out of the match when these two added 71 runs on the opening pair. As there was no rush to get runs, Gill played his innings in ODI style. But Wriddhiman was as aggressive as ever. When Gill got out for 36 runs from 35 balls, the pressure of the run chase could not touch the GT’s squad due to the aggression of Saha.

On the other hand, skipper Hardik Pandya came to the crease and started his explosive batting to bring the match within GT’s reach quickly. An unbeaten innings of 39 runs from 15 balls came from his bat. Where there were equal numbers of 3 fours and sixes. Among them, the GT skipper took 24 runs in one over smashing 3 sixes and 1 four. Wriddhiman scored an unbeaten 41 off 34 balls courtesy of 5 fours.

Chasing an easy target courtesy of them, GT reached the brink of victory with 9 wickets and 37 balls in hand. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took that one wicket for RR. Earlier, the Royals defeated the Titans in Ahmedabad. However, Sanju Samson and Co. could not complete the fight with the bat in hand on their home ground. The fight between two of the best teams in the IPL was not as hard as it was thought to be in the first innings. The current runner-up Royals had a batting disaster at home due to the power of the bowlers of the current champions GT.

After winning the toss, Samson, the captain of the Royals, wanted to bat first on the home ground and give the opponent a big run target. But the failure of the batters has poured water on his thoughts. Apart from Samson, no batsman could perform well for the team. RR lost wickets continuously from the second over. Jos Buttler (8), Yashasvi Jaiswal (14), and Devdutt Padikkal (12) could not give the team confidence to bring up a fighting total.

The Royals’ plan to introduce Ravichandran Ashwin (2) as a pinch hitter was not successful. None of the subsequent batters could touch double-digit scores. Coming into the attack in the middle overs, two Afghan spinners Rashid and Noor did not give anyone a chance to take control of the match.

Samson’s innings of 30 off 20 balls to give the team hope at the beginning was not enough for the team. His innings was studded with 3 fours and 1 six. In the end, Trent Boult tried to bring the team to a fighting position with aggressive batting. He scored 15 runs off 11 balls. RR got a collection of 118 runs with his attempt and passed the hundred mark.

Rashid Khan bowled 4 overs for the Titans and snapped up 3 wickets at the cost of only 14 runs. He also won the Player of the Match award. Besides, Noor Ahmad took 2 wickets at the cost of 25 runs in 3 overs. Besides, Joshua Little, Hardik Pandya, and Mohammed Shami took one wicket each.

After winning this match, Gujarat Titans have climbed to the top of the standings with 14 points from 10 matches. On the other hand, with 10 points from 10 matches, Rajasthan Royals have now gone down to the 4th position in the points table.

Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans Scoreboard

Rajasthan Royals – 118/10 (17.5)

Gujarat Titans – 119/1 (13.5)

Result – Gujarat Titans won by 9 wickets

Player of the match – Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan

Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans Playing XIs