GT vs RR Highlights, IPL 2023: Samson, Hetmyer script Rajasthan Royals' three-wicket chase

GT vs RR match summary: Rajasthan Royals romped towards a three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday to collect their fourth win of the ongoing IPL 2023 tournament.

The win took Royals to eight points, and to the top of the IPL 2023 points table, albeit momentarily.

The Royals had won the toss and opted to field. Trent Boult struck in the very first over, to get rid of Wriddhiman Saha, and in the fifth over, the Titans lost Sai Sudharsan as well.

However, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya revived GT’s hopes of posting a challenging total by building a 59-run stand for the third wicket.

Both Gill (45) and David Miller (46) played fine knocks while cameos from Pandya (28), Sudharsan (20) and Abhinav Manohar (27) were also vital in GT posting 177/7.

In reply, the Royals got off to their worst possible start, losing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler inside the powerplay phase. Devdutt Padikkal (26) got off to a start, but failed to capitalise on it.

Sanju Samson (60) led from the front, forging stands with Padikkal and Hetmyer, but was dismissed by Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad, who got his first wicket in the IPL.

While Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 56, Dhruv Jurel (18 off 10) and R Ashwin (10 off 3) cameos guided Royals to victory with four balls to spare.

Preview: Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans take on Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals in Match 23 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 in Ahmedabad on Sunday in a rematch of the IPL 2022 final. Both RR and GT are coming off victories over Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings in their respective previous matches, and both the teams will be hoping to get to eight points and momentarily top the league standings.

IPL 2023: Full coverage | Points table | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap​

With huge wins over Sunrisers Hyderabad (72 runs) and Delhi Capitals (57 runs), RR have been more clinical so far this season.

GT, the defending champions, began their IPL 2023 campaign with victories over CSK and DC, before Rinku Singh broke GT’s hearts as they lost to KKR in their last match.

In their latest match, Shubman Gill (67) starred with the bat to help GT beat PBKS by six wickets.

Gill, with 183 runs so far, has been GT’s top run-getter this season, while Rashid Khan (9 wickets) has been in the reckoning for the Orange Cap early on in the season. Sai Sudharsan has also been a revelation this season, scoring 156 runs from four matches so far.

RR’s Trent Boult could potentially return to the playing XI against GT. Boult missed the previous match due to a niggle, and will be expected to replace Adam Zampa in the playing XI.

Padikkal scored a match-winning 38 against Chennai Super Kings on 12 April, and is likely to get the nod against Gujarat Titans on Sunday.

For RR, though, Jos Buttler has been their batter of the season sob far. In just four matches, the Englishman has amassed 204 runs at a strike-rate of 170. Buttler also has a strike rate of 196.6 in the powerplay phase which is the best among the batters, so the bowlers might very well be wary of the 32-year-old during that phase.

For the Titans, meanwhile, Mohit Sharma impressed with figures of 2/18 on his Indian Premier League return, and is likely to retain his place in the XI.

As a result, it remains to be seen if Yash Dayal would be given ac chance against RR.

Squads:

Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Srikar Bharat, Alzarri Joseph, Josh Little, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, Urvil Patel, Rashid Khan, Wriddhiman Saha, R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan, Pradeep Sangwan, Dasun Shanaka, Vijay Shankar, Mohit Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Odean Smith, Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Jayant Yadav, Yash Dayal.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Abdul Basith, Murugan Ashwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, KM Asif, Trent Boult, Jos Buttler, KC Cariappa, Yuzvendra Chahal, Donovan Ferreira, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Obed McCoy, Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Kunal Singh Rathore, Joe Root, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Akash Vasisht, Kuldip Yadav, Adam Zampa.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.