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IPL 2023: RR dances to Rashid's spin web as GT win by thumping 9 wickets

A lopsided 9-wicket victory against the mighty but inconsistent Rajasthan Royals (RR) side speaks volumes of Gujarat's penchant for consistency.

GT vs RR
GT vs RR
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Published : May 5, 2023, 7:23 PM IST

Updated : May 5, 2023, 10:59 PM IST

Jaipur: Gujarat Titans (GT) simply dominated. The Hero -- Rashid Khan.

Khan's three wickets of R Ashwin (2), Riyan Parag (4) and Hetmyer (7) smoothen the path to an already faltering batting of RR that looked patchy, clueless against the dancing deliveries of the Afghan bowler. A lopsided 9-wicket victory against the mighty but inconsistent Rajasthan Royals (RR) side speaks volumes of Gujarat's penchant for consistency. The win, a much-needed one, comes after an underwhelming performance against Delhi Capitals.

Batting first, RR lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 118 in front of their home crowd, with skipper Sanju Samson making a 20-ball 30. GT started off handsomely as a 71-run partnership between Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (41 not out off 34 balls) set the tone for a grand victory to which Hardik Pandya lend the finishing touches with a compact 15-ball 39 not out (3x4s, 3x6s).

Such was GT's dominance that they wrapped up the proceedings in 13.5 overs where they reached the target of 119 with 37 ball to spare. Defeating the RR side, last year's finalists, meant that Gujarat are right and well at the top in the points table.

Among the most consistent side, Gujarat currently has 14 points in 10 matches where they registered seven victories and a meager three losses whereas the perfectly balanced RR has been unable to make amends from their previous encounters and remains in a dicy position with five wins and as many losses.

Both Saha and Gill got off the blocks quickly against RR pacer Trent Boult, hitting the left-armer for a couple of fours each inside the powerplay, at the end of which GT were 49 for no loss. Yuzvendra Chahal got Gill stumped for a 35-ball 36 (4x4s) in the 10th over but the breakthrough had no impact on the Gujarat Titans' juggernaut.

Pandya was severe on RR's Adam Zampa, hitting the Australian leg-spinner for three sixes and a four to collect 24 runs in the 11th over and hasten the process. Earlier in the first half, Rajasthan Royals surrendered against the Gujarat Titans' duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad to be bundled out for a poor total, as the two Afghan spinners shared five wickets.

Rajasthan Royals' decision to bat after winning the toss backfired as their batting crumbled against Rashid, who returned 4-0-14-3 to spark a collapse, and Noor, who registered 3-0-25-2. Rajasthan looked in control until the fifth over of the innings at 47 for one, but the home side collapsed without any resistance to lose nine wickets for a mere 71 runs and was bowled out in 17.5 overs, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Hardik Pandya had Jos Buttler (8) caught by Mohit Sharma at short third man after the batter cracked two fours in a row in the second over. The pair of Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal (14) tried providing RR with momentum, but their 36-run second-wicket stand was broken in the final over of the powerplay with Abhinav Manohar putting in a dive to stop a cut from Samson.

Mohit threw the ball to Rashid, who broke the stumps with Jaiswal far out from the crease. The Rashid-led bowling attack then took firm control of the proceedings. Little ended Samson's promising start at 30 off 20 balls (3x4s, 1x6s), getting the RR captain caught inside the ring off a mistimed stroke.

Samson moved across the line to play on the on side but could only get a leading edge, collected by Pandya as the RR skipper looked at the surface in disbelief. Rashid then outgunned his counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin (2) for the majority of the eighth over, dismantling his off-stump on the final ball.

Riyan Parag (4) continued to disappoint as he failed to read the Afghan leggie's googly in the 10th over and appealed unsuccessfully against the umpire's leg-before call. At the halfway mark, RR were stuttering at 72 for five. Noor got into the act to keep RR under the pump, castling the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal (12) in the 12th over and trapping the dangerous Dhruv Jurel (9) leg-before in his next.

Rashid returned in the 15th over to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer (7) leg-before, with the Caribbean batter's horrendous run continuing in this IPL. With scores of 3, 2, 8, 8 and 7, Hetmyer has now recorded five single-digit scores on the trot. Rashid nearly had his fourth wicket in his final over but a return shot off Trent Boult's bat was a bit too far away for his reach in the follow-through.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals: 118 all out in 17.5 overs (Sanju Samson 30; Rashid Khan 3/14).

Gujarat Titans: 119/1 in 13.5 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 41 not out, Shubman Gill 36, Hardik Pandya 39 not out).

Here's what the captains of the respective sides had to say:

Hardik Pandya, GT Captain: I let Rashid handle the business with Noor. Nobody better to communicate. Not much I have to do, I only suggest on when to have a slip. They are very confident about what they want to do, we only have conversations when things aren't going right. I feel Wriddhi is one of the best keepers, not easy to pick Rashid and Noor with their speeds. We are relaxed, doing our jobs and there are just a few chats that I or Ashu pa will have to pull up our socks when needed. I made some judgement errors in the last game, but today my job was half done by the time Shubman got out. I don't shy away from accepting mistakes, accepting in key to succeed for me.

Sanju Samson, RR skipper: We had a very tough night, didn't really have a good powerplay to start with and struggled against the spinners. Their bowlers were bowling good line and length and kept on taking some crucial wickets during middle overs and when that happens there is nothing much you can do. We have to check our to-do list and see if we are actually playing good cricket, we need to pull our socks up, couple of crucial games coming up and we are looking forward to win games in the next couple of weeks.

Player of the Match

Rashid Khan: (On masking the googly) Nothing different, just making sure I don't give any signals for the batters to pick me. I'm trying to minimize the difference between leg spin and googly, holding them the same way. I keep working on it in the nets, want to make it perfect. Sometimes I lose my lines, with my bowling if I can keep the consistency with line and length then I know the batters will have problems. I just keep it simple, try to understand what I do wrong in games. It is more to do with my line and length, I bowled a few bad balls and was punished. So I just look back and talk to the video analysts, and work on my pitch maps. (On mentoring Noor Ahmed) It makes it easier, we speak Pashto in the middle. Noor is happy that I'm with him and he's always someone who listens and puts it the hard work. (On how many wrist spinners exist in Afghanistan) To be honest, more than 1000 now. I have been to a few academies and there are so many leg spinners. There were 250 of them after my first year of IPL. Now, I've been playing IPL for 6-7 years now, and there are so many in Afghanistan trying to copy me. I receive so many videos everyday of new leg spinners. I'm so happy to see Noor perform here, there are so many more like Qais Ahmed, Zahir Khan who haven't got their opportunities in IPL but when they do they can perform really well.

Jaipur: Gujarat Titans (GT) simply dominated. The Hero -- Rashid Khan.

Khan's three wickets of R Ashwin (2), Riyan Parag (4) and Hetmyer (7) smoothen the path to an already faltering batting of RR that looked patchy, clueless against the dancing deliveries of the Afghan bowler. A lopsided 9-wicket victory against the mighty but inconsistent Rajasthan Royals (RR) side speaks volumes of Gujarat's penchant for consistency. The win, a much-needed one, comes after an underwhelming performance against Delhi Capitals.

Batting first, RR lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 118 in front of their home crowd, with skipper Sanju Samson making a 20-ball 30. GT started off handsomely as a 71-run partnership between Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (41 not out off 34 balls) set the tone for a grand victory to which Hardik Pandya lend the finishing touches with a compact 15-ball 39 not out (3x4s, 3x6s).

Such was GT's dominance that they wrapped up the proceedings in 13.5 overs where they reached the target of 119 with 37 ball to spare. Defeating the RR side, last year's finalists, meant that Gujarat are right and well at the top in the points table.

Among the most consistent side, Gujarat currently has 14 points in 10 matches where they registered seven victories and a meager three losses whereas the perfectly balanced RR has been unable to make amends from their previous encounters and remains in a dicy position with five wins and as many losses.

Both Saha and Gill got off the blocks quickly against RR pacer Trent Boult, hitting the left-armer for a couple of fours each inside the powerplay, at the end of which GT were 49 for no loss. Yuzvendra Chahal got Gill stumped for a 35-ball 36 (4x4s) in the 10th over but the breakthrough had no impact on the Gujarat Titans' juggernaut.

Pandya was severe on RR's Adam Zampa, hitting the Australian leg-spinner for three sixes and a four to collect 24 runs in the 11th over and hasten the process. Earlier in the first half, Rajasthan Royals surrendered against the Gujarat Titans' duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad to be bundled out for a poor total, as the two Afghan spinners shared five wickets.

Rajasthan Royals' decision to bat after winning the toss backfired as their batting crumbled against Rashid, who returned 4-0-14-3 to spark a collapse, and Noor, who registered 3-0-25-2. Rajasthan looked in control until the fifth over of the innings at 47 for one, but the home side collapsed without any resistance to lose nine wickets for a mere 71 runs and was bowled out in 17.5 overs, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Hardik Pandya had Jos Buttler (8) caught by Mohit Sharma at short third man after the batter cracked two fours in a row in the second over. The pair of Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal (14) tried providing RR with momentum, but their 36-run second-wicket stand was broken in the final over of the powerplay with Abhinav Manohar putting in a dive to stop a cut from Samson.

Mohit threw the ball to Rashid, who broke the stumps with Jaiswal far out from the crease. The Rashid-led bowling attack then took firm control of the proceedings. Little ended Samson's promising start at 30 off 20 balls (3x4s, 1x6s), getting the RR captain caught inside the ring off a mistimed stroke.

Samson moved across the line to play on the on side but could only get a leading edge, collected by Pandya as the RR skipper looked at the surface in disbelief. Rashid then outgunned his counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin (2) for the majority of the eighth over, dismantling his off-stump on the final ball.

Riyan Parag (4) continued to disappoint as he failed to read the Afghan leggie's googly in the 10th over and appealed unsuccessfully against the umpire's leg-before call. At the halfway mark, RR were stuttering at 72 for five. Noor got into the act to keep RR under the pump, castling the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal (12) in the 12th over and trapping the dangerous Dhruv Jurel (9) leg-before in his next.

Rashid returned in the 15th over to dismiss Shimron Hetmyer (7) leg-before, with the Caribbean batter's horrendous run continuing in this IPL. With scores of 3, 2, 8, 8 and 7, Hetmyer has now recorded five single-digit scores on the trot. Rashid nearly had his fourth wicket in his final over but a return shot off Trent Boult's bat was a bit too far away for his reach in the follow-through.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals: 118 all out in 17.5 overs (Sanju Samson 30; Rashid Khan 3/14).

Gujarat Titans: 119/1 in 13.5 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 41 not out, Shubman Gill 36, Hardik Pandya 39 not out).

Here's what the captains of the respective sides had to say:

Hardik Pandya, GT Captain: I let Rashid handle the business with Noor. Nobody better to communicate. Not much I have to do, I only suggest on when to have a slip. They are very confident about what they want to do, we only have conversations when things aren't going right. I feel Wriddhi is one of the best keepers, not easy to pick Rashid and Noor with their speeds. We are relaxed, doing our jobs and there are just a few chats that I or Ashu pa will have to pull up our socks when needed. I made some judgement errors in the last game, but today my job was half done by the time Shubman got out. I don't shy away from accepting mistakes, accepting in key to succeed for me.

Sanju Samson, RR skipper: We had a very tough night, didn't really have a good powerplay to start with and struggled against the spinners. Their bowlers were bowling good line and length and kept on taking some crucial wickets during middle overs and when that happens there is nothing much you can do. We have to check our to-do list and see if we are actually playing good cricket, we need to pull our socks up, couple of crucial games coming up and we are looking forward to win games in the next couple of weeks.

Player of the Match

Rashid Khan: (On masking the googly) Nothing different, just making sure I don't give any signals for the batters to pick me. I'm trying to minimize the difference between leg spin and googly, holding them the same way. I keep working on it in the nets, want to make it perfect. Sometimes I lose my lines, with my bowling if I can keep the consistency with line and length then I know the batters will have problems. I just keep it simple, try to understand what I do wrong in games. It is more to do with my line and length, I bowled a few bad balls and was punished. So I just look back and talk to the video analysts, and work on my pitch maps. (On mentoring Noor Ahmed) It makes it easier, we speak Pashto in the middle. Noor is happy that I'm with him and he's always someone who listens and puts it the hard work. (On how many wrist spinners exist in Afghanistan) To be honest, more than 1000 now. I have been to a few academies and there are so many leg spinners. There were 250 of them after my first year of IPL. Now, I've been playing IPL for 6-7 years now, and there are so many in Afghanistan trying to copy me. I receive so many videos everyday of new leg spinners. I'm so happy to see Noor perform here, there are so many more like Qais Ahmed, Zahir Khan who haven't got their opportunities in IPL but when they do they can perform really well.

Last Updated : May 5, 2023, 10:59 PM IST

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