Gujarat Titans bag a thriller

Agencies | Jaipur      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Gujarat Titans pulled off a thrilling win over Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur yesterday. RR set the visitors a target of 197 runs to win the game as GT successfully chased it down with 3 wickets to spare thanks to Shubman Gill’s 72-run knock and match-winning cameos from Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan.

GT won the toss and opted to put RR to bat first, as the hosts got off to a quick start thanks to young southpaw Yashasvi Jaiswal. The opener chipped in with a contribution of 24 runs at the top before being sent back to the hut by Umesh Ydadav as Matthew Wade caught him behind the wicket.

Fellow opener Jos Buttler joined the young Indian back in the hut shortly after as Afghan spin wizard Rashid Khan scalped the Englishman with a peach of a delivery that was knocked onto the thankful Rahul Tewatia at slips.

RR were 42/2 in the sixth over as skipper Sanju Samson and youngster Riyan Parag steadied the hosts’ innings as the duo put up a 130-run partnership for the 3rd wicket. Samson finished unbeaten at 68 accompanied by Shimron Hetmyer, who contributed with a couple of boundaries to take RR to a total of 196/3 in 20 overs.

Gujarat opened their chase with captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, who put up a 64-run stand for the 1st wicket. Sudharsan was the first to go as he was caught in front of the wicket by Kuldeep Sen in the 9th over of the game. Wade came in to replace his teammate, however, the game was delayed for a bit due to showers at the end of 10 overs.

Sen completed his three-wicket haul in the same over as he castled Abhinav Manohar for just a single run. Vijay Shankar, who added 16 runs off 10 deliveries was scalped by Yuzvendra Chahal as the batter was castled by the wily spinner’s tricky spin. Gill brought up his half-century as he kept GT on track, but Chahal struck again to dismiss the Gujarat captain as Samson did well behind the wicket to pick up a stumping of the crucial wicket.

Sen came back to bowl the 19th over and was taken for runs as Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia made 20 off the pacer’s over and got GT closer to victory. GT did brilliantly to reduce the equation to 14 runs required off the last over. The game went down to the wire as Tewatia was dismissed on 22 off 11 with Rashid left facing the final delivery as his side needed 2 runs off the final delivery. The Afghan finished off with a boundary to remain unbeaten on 24 off 11 deliveries as GT picked up an astounding win.