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In match no.52, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. This was a reverse fixture, as the GT takes its revenge on the Rajasthan Royals by 75 runs and secures the top-four place on the points table.
The Royals, who were playing their second home at Jaipur, were without their regular captain Riyan Parag, who was out due to a hamstring pull. Yashasvi Jaiswal led the side and won the toss, and elected to field. They made a couple of changes, bringing back Shimron Hetmyer and Yash Raj Punja to the side. GT also made a change, bringing in Prasidh Krishna.
Sai and Subhman give GT a good start
After being put into bat first, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were off to a blazing start and yet again stitched a 118-run partnership between them for the first wicket. Both batters scored fifties in 30 balls respectively. Sai scored 55 runs and was the first wicket to fall, Gill scored 84 runs, and Washington Sundar scored 37 off 20 balls.
GT scored 229/4 in their 20 overs, and as RR came out to chase, they were off to a breezy start with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scoring 36 off 15 runs before being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj. Since then, the wickets kept on falling as Yashasvi Jaiswal also went back for just three runs.
Rashid Khan webbed against the RR batter
Kagiso Rabada was once again picking wickets inside the power play as he picked Jaiswal, and in his third over, he got the wicket of the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer. Rashid Khan then added a pinch of salt, picking the wicket of Dhruv Jurel for 24 runs, and in the same over, the Afghan spinner picked the wicket of Donovan Ferreira.
RR were reduced to 91/5 and looked in trouble, and then Ravindra Jadeja and Shubham Dubey tried to stitch a partnership, but the latter was back after scoring 15 runs, with Rashid Khan picking the wicket. The Royals looked in deep trouble with 121/6 on the board.
It was unusual for me- Rashid Khan
Ravindra Jadeja was the highest run scorer with 38 runs, and Dasun Shanaka scored 16 runs towards the business end of the innings, and RR were bundled out for the score of 152. Rashid Khan was the player of the match for his excellent spell of 4/33.
Rashid Khan said, “Quite happy. It was unusual for me last two seasons. This year I have been more consistent. So happy with that. I took only two months to get back on the field after the injury. I had to come back for Afghanistan and to play those games. I was missing my rhythm. I had a good Hundred competition.”
“Just tried to hit the right areas in this match. That was the most important thing, hit the right length. I feel if I pitched it in the right areas, I would get wickets. It’s so good, it’s important to have players around you.”
Rashid Khan concluded, “They have played a lot in India, so they have good information. At the same time, I share my experience of playing international cricket. Modern cricket demands more variations. Sai Kishore is working on various skills, he’s working on the wrong ‘un, I’m excited to see that.”
Also Read: RR qualification scenario IPL 2026: Can RR still reach playoffs after loss against GT?
