Last night at Sawai Mansingh Stadium was a similar kind of story, Gujarat bowlers exploited the RR’s weak batting approch, bundled them for mere 117 runs and chased it down within 14 overs.
After winning the toss at SMS, GT asked RR to bat first. Gujarat bowlers have been doing a terrific job in the powerplay and once again, they proved to difficult to get through for RR batters.
Hardik Pandya, in his first over, dismissed Jos Buttler for 8 runs. After his first four innings, Jos Buttler is now averaging 15 with a strike rate of 98 which is a sign for big trouble for Rajasthan Royals.
The on song batter Yashasvi Jaiswal lost his wicket due to a runout, and RR found themselves in deep trouble. Sanju Samson (30 runs off 20 balls) played some fancy shots in his short innings but soon threw his wicket away.
From thereon, it was total domination of Afghani duo spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad. Both kept taking wickets throughout middle overs and cut short RR to 8/96 by the beginning for 15th over.
R. Ashwin, Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer were dismissed by Rashid Khan while Ahmad dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jorel.
The left out job was completed by Mohammad Shami who sent back Trent Boult and Adam Zampa was runout by Abhinav Manohar.
In their previous match against Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Titans failed to chase down 131 runs. Now, they had the opportunity to register a thumping victory over a strong contender for the title.
A decent chase by Gujarat Titans as Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill shared 71 runs partnership for the first wicket. As Gill lost his wicket, Hardik Pandya came to bat and scored quick 15 balls 39 runs to write off the chase within 14 overs.
This was a much needed win for Gujarat Titans after their terrible batting failure against Delhi Capitals. Rajasthan Royals are now off track for few matches now, with out of form Jos Buttler, things have become difficult for them.
Despite continuous failure, Riyan Parag has been handed opportunities in regular basis. Samson needs to circumspective with his role and also taking account of conditions is equally important.
This was a home game for RR, they have played three games at home, lost 2 and won 1 against CSK. This is penultimative time of tournament and teams will be more competitive at this stage so RR needs to take best out of their work.