Rashid Khan leads a heist for Gujarat Titans as Rajasthan Royals throw away a comfortable win

Synopsis: Rajasthan Royals prey on Gujarat Titans’ mistakes to stay ahead for most of the night, only to throw away an easy victory with poor bowling at the death to slump to their first defeat of the season.

How to throw away a win

If anyone is looking for a tutorial on how to throw away a victory, look no further than the death bowling of Kuldeep Sen and Avesh Khan, who combined to allow Gujarat Titans back into a game they had all but lost. Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia were able to slog through poor bowling and ride the good fortune of plenty of extras in the final overs to give their side a three-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.

Rashid was sensational in the end, finishing on 24 off 11 balls, and offering up another reminder that, on his day, he is a proper T20 allrounder.

WHAT. A. WIN 🔥🔥

The pair of R & R has done it against #RR 👏👏

Rahul Tewatia & Rashid Khan pull off a famous win in Jaipur 👏👏

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/1HcL9A97Ch#TATAIPL | #RRvGT pic.twitter.com/eImggsoNKB

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 10, 2024

But Gujarat Titans needed 60 from 25 balls with each of their set batsmen gone. Despite a big over off R Ashwin, they still needed 35 from the last two overs and 28 from the final nine deliveries. Winning from that position had less to do with the pinch-hitting and/or finishing abilities of Rashid and Tewatia, and more about some dreadful bowling.

Sen gave his side the major breakthrough on the day, with a double-wicket over in the 11th, but after bowling a 20-run penultimate over that had two wides, a no ball, and two rank full tosses, he undid all that work. Avesh would lend a helping hand, misreading the fields set by his team despite frantic discussions before every ball, and allowing three easy boundaries.

Skipper Sanju Samson looked in disbelief, fuming at the end, perhaps not in recognition of his own perplexing calls – allowing the likes of Ashwin to bowl at the death when Trent Boult had only bowled two overs, especially with so many runs to defend and the team increasingly under pressure.

Rajasthan, in essence, threw away a game they dominated for the most part for a first defeat this season.

Gill takes it deep

Before the final two overs of the second innings, Rajasthan were in complete control. After a frustrating first innings, Gill presumably came into the middle with a plan to pace his innings well and take the run chase as deep as he could. By the end of the 11th over, coming directly after a short rain break, it seemed like he was fighting a lone battle.

Jaipur: Gujarat Titans’ captain Shubman Gill plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, in Jaipur, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (PTI Photo)

Sen, the Madhya Pradesh-born Tamil Nadu pacer, tore through six balls at 140kmph+ to scalp both Wade and Abhinav Manohar. He was ably supported by his side’s spinners on either side of his double-wicket over. In the middle overs, R Ashwin and Keshav Maharaj would choke Gujarat for runs, while Chahal found the wickets.

Even as Gill attempted to salvage things for his side with a late flourish, clearly targetting Chahal, the experienced leggie would bait him with a wide leg-break that allowed Samson to complete a routine stumping. Gill fell for a well-made 44-ball 72, an innings that proved to be the catalyst for an unlikely win.

Starting troubles

Despite a good start to the season, RR haven’t had good opening stands.

Ahead of their match on Wednesday, the table-toppers had an average run rate of 7.70 in the first six overs. Those problems surfaced again, as they crawled to 43-2 at 7.16 in the first six.

Having middled a few, some straight to the fielders on the off side, there were indications that this might be Yashaswi Jaiswal’s day after average performances this season. But scoreboard pressure eventually caught up to him as he nicked one to Matthew Wade attempting a pre-meditated scoop to a back-of-length ball from Umesh Yadav

Jos Buttler failed to make much of an impact either. He departed after his chief tormentor Rashid Khan came into the attack in the sixth over. In nine IPL innings against Rashid, the England captain has managed just 30 runs without a single boundary and has lost his wicket four times. Here too, Rashid set him up perfectly as Buttler edged to slip.

Shimron Hetmyer and Sanju Samson (c) of Rajasthan Royals during match 24 of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on the 10th April 2024. (Photo by Deepak Malik / Sportzpics for IPL)

Parag-Samson show

RR got going when Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag replaced the Rajasthan Royals openers after the powerplay. Even as Gujarat Giants skipper Shubman Gill attempted to choke the hosts through his rotation of spinners, both were able to survive the good balls and more importantly, punish the bad ones, anchoring their side with a 130-run partnership.

Parag once again delivered. Noor Ahmad misses his line from around the wicket? Smashed for two sixes in an over. Mohit Sharma leaves his attempted wide yorkers too short? Muscled over the leg side.

• Chess Candidates 2024 Live Updates
• Rashid Khan leads a heist for Gujarat Titans as Rajasthan Royals throw away a comfortable win
• Despite Virat Kohli's runs, Royal Challengers Bengaluru nearing the point of no return

Arriving at the crease under pressure, even as Samson seemed keen to simply keep rotating strike, Parag rode his luck after keeper Matthew Wade dropped him twice behind the stumps, and counterattacked to find boundaries. It spurred Samson, who went from 29 from 20 to an unbeaten 68 from 38. RR finished strong to get to a total that, if not for a freak breakdown in the end, they should have defended comfortably.

Get latest updates on IPL 2024 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.