Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya, meanwhile, excelled in batting, fielding and bowling. Hardik Pandya’s 87 helped Gujarat to reach a big total after having early setbacks. It is noteworthy that after this victory, Gujarat has moved to the top of the table, beating Rajasthan.
For Rajasthan Royals, opening batsman Jos Buttler scored a striking half-century. However, Devdutt returned to the pavilion without opening an account. Sanju Samson fell victim to excellent run out by Hardik Pandya. Rest of the middle order were under pressure chasing a high score.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals decided to bowl after winning the toss. Gujarat Titans had a shaky start. Their top order batsmen were back to pavilion within the powerplay. Matthew Wade was run out for just 12 by Van der Dussen. Vijay Shankar continued to disappoint the team as he only scored 2 runs nicked a outside off hitting ball.
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After that, captain Hardik Pandya, who came for the third wicket, played a brilliant inning. He hit four sixes and eight fours and scored an unbeaten 87 runs. With the team at three wickets for 53 runs, Hardik kept his composure and hit big shots whenever he found bad balls. Subsequently, he ushered Gujarat Titans out of the trouble.
Abhinav Manohar and David Miller, who came for the fourth and fifth wickets, accompanied Hardik Pandya. Abhinav scored 43 off 28 balls. David Miller hit an unbeaten 31 off 14 balls with one six and five fours. Surprisingly, the score that was expected to be around 170 reached 192 because of heavy hitting down the order.
On the other hand, Rajasthan bowlers got off to a good start and sent two Gujarat Titans batsmen to the pavilion within 15 runs. After that, Rajasthan bowlers failed to stop Hardik Panda. Kuldeep Sen, Yujvendra Chahal and Ryan Parag took one wicket each. Evidently, Rajasthan Royals missed the absence of Trent Boult. His replacement for the match, Jimmy Neesham didn’t make any significant impact on the game.