A big half century from Sai Sudharsan and a strong all-round bowling performance, led by Prasidh Krishna, helped the Gujarat Titans clinch a thumping 58-run win over the Rajasthan Royals in their IPL clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday night.
After the Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first, Sudharsan led from the front, cracking 82 off 53 balls (8x4; 3x6) at the top of the order, assisted by Jos Buttler, 36 off 25 (5x4) and Sharukh Khan, 36 off 20 (4x4; 2x6), while a Rahul Tewatia cameo, 24 off 12 (2x4; 2x6), helped them reach 217-6 at the end of their 20 overs.
The Rajasthan chase then never really got off the ground as only three batters reached double figures, with Shimron Hetmeyer, 52 off 32 (4x4; 3x6) playing a lone hand in the middle order, while captain Sanju Samson, 41 off 28 (4x4; 2x6), and Riyan Parag, 26 of 14 (1x4; 3x6), chipped in as they fell well short on 159 all out.
🔝 of their Game. 🔝 of the Table. 💙#GT roar to the top of the points table with another strong display of cricket 💪
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2025
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/raxxjzYH5F#TATAIPL | #GTvRR | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/ZDRsDqoMAT
Krishna was the pick of the Gujarat bowlers, collecting 3-24 in his four overs, while Sai Kishore, 2-20, and Rashid Khan, 2-37, also impressed in keeping Rajasthan in check.
The Rajasthan chase got off to a disastrous start as Yashasvi Jaiswal (6) was caught by Rashid off the bowling of Arshad Khan and Mohammed Siraj had Nitish Rana (1) caught by Kulwant Khejroliya, leaving them on 12-2 in the third over.
Parag then joined Samson and they tried to revive the chase with a 48-run stand, but just after the powerplay Parag edged Khejroliya to keeper Buttler, and Dhruv Jurel (5) was caught by Sudharsan off the bowling of Rashid, leaving them on 68-4 in the eighth over.
Samson and Hetmeyer briefly threatened to produce a fightback, with a 48-run fifth-wicket partnership, but once the captain fell, Krishna having him caught by Kishore, the chase was effectively over as Hetmeyer received no further support, with the last six wickets tumbling for 43 runs.
FINISH WITH A FLOURISH
Earlier the Gujarat innings didn’t get off to the greatest start as Jofra Archer bowled captain Shubman Gill (2) with express pace to leave them on 14-1 at the start of the third over.
That brought Buttler in and along with Sudharsan they set about a decent powerplay, including taking 18 off the fifth over from Tushar Deshpande, helping them to 56-1 after the first six overs.
They continued on, extending their partnership to 80 runs, when right at the halfway mark Buttler was trapped LBW by Maheesh Theekshana to reduce Gujarat to 94-2.
Sudharsan, however, found another good partner in Khan and they set about a 62-run third-wicket stand to take their side past the 150-run mark, with Khan then stumped by Samson off the bowling of Theekshana, followed by Sherfane Rutherford (7) edging Sandeep Sharma to the keeper as they slipped to 163-4.
Sudharsan finally fell in the penultimate over, edging Deshpande to Samson, while Rashid cracked a four and a six in scoring 12 off four before finding Jaiswal at the end of the over, leaving Tewatia to help take 16 off the final over to finish their innings with a flourish.
𝙎𝙖𝙞-𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙡𝙮 ⛵
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2025
For his elegant and outstanding knock of 82(53), Sai Sudharsan wins the Player of the Match award 🏆
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/raxxjzY9g7#TATAIPL | #GTvRR | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/WwzOjUSTAl
GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Arshad Khan
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande