‘Ye kya mazak tha’ – Fans react as Gujarat Titans defeat Rajasthan Royals by 9 wickets and 37 balls to spare in IPL 2023 clash

After losing the last fixture against five-time champions, Mumbai Indians (MI), Rajasthan Royals (RR) locked horns against defending champions, Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, in Rajasthan on Friday, May 5. The Titans won the match by nine wickets and with 37 balls to spare and their star all-rounder, Rashid Khan was awarded the Player of the Match award for his brilliant spell.

RR skipper, Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts, while batting first, were bundled out for 118 runs in the 17.5 overs of the first innings. The highest scorer for the side was Samson, who scored 30 runs from 20 balls which included three fours and a six. The other batters like Jos Buttler, Yashashvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Paddikal, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, and Dhruv Jurel failed to score runs, once again.

All our bowlers have been contributing which is always a good sign: Wriddhiman Saha

For GT, the pick of the bowler was Rashid Khan, who snapped three wickets in his spell of four overs and conceded only 14 runs. Two wickets were grabbed by left-arm spinner, Noor Ahmad in his spell of three overs and conceded 25 runs. One wicket each was bagged by Mohammad Shami, Joshua Little, and Hardik Pandya.

While chasing a small target of 119 runs, the GT openers, Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha built a brilliant partnership of 71 runs before the former was dismissed off the bowling of star India bowler, Yuzvendra Chahal, after scoring 36 runs from 35 balls which included six fours.

Saha played an unbeaten knock of 41 runs off 34 balls with five fours. In the end, Hardik played a quickfire knock of 39 runs from just 15 balls with three fours and three sixes to guide his team to an easy win.

“We set a benchmark last year and just continued from there. All our bowlers have been contributing which is always a good sign. The plan was to maximize in the powerplay and today I got some confidence after timing a few balls and after the powerplay it is just about rotating the strike. I try to move really late against Rashid and Noor because it is important to read their variations because the angle is really low,” Saha was quoted as saying after winning the match.

Here’s how fans reacted on Gujarat Titans victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League 2023: 

Fluke win in my book

— hitman apologist (@ro454lyfe) May 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/crictopher014/status/1654530045128638464

Fluke win just like harcb trophy

— DC FAN (@dcwinningipl) May 5, 2023

Hardik was real captain of MI.

— rohan (@rohancric947) May 5, 2023

100% Domination by GT

— sagar guru (@cricketstuff12) May 5, 2023

HP ko hamesha ऐसा ही khel na chahiye

— RUDRESH (@rudreshsanap) May 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/sterns_haschen/status/1654530951366725633

Hardik Pandya should stop doing anchoring role or drag game till last like Dhoni and play his natural game which is best.

— Shubman Gang (@ShubmanGang) May 5, 2023