The IPL has seldom come across occasions when cricketers, primarily known for their bowling skills, have played match-winning cameos with the bat to take their teams home. Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada had a chance on Saturday, but Tushar Deshpande proved too tall a hurdle to cross.
Stand-in skipper Rashid and Rabada were perilously close to taking the Gujarat Titans home against the Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
But in the end, two superb overs from quicks Jofra Archer and Deshpande ensured the Royals had the last laugh, edging the Titans out by 6 runs in a nail-biter to register
their second straight victory in this IPL.
Courtesy of Impact Player Ravi Bishnoi (4/41), the Titans, chasing a daunting 211-run target, were seven down for 161 in the 15th over. Yet,
the Royals were under pressure as Rabada stunned them to match Rashid with his strokes, as the duo got the equation down to just 15 off the last 12 balls.
The momentum was completely with the Titans then, but Archer got the 19th over of the innings right with fuller and hard lengths. Archer conceded only 4 off the penultimate over.
In the final over, the Royals had to prevent the Titans from scoring 11 runs, and Deshpande stifled both batters with his yorkers. He dismissed Rashid off the penultimate ball as the Titans eventually suffered their second consecutive loss.
Ideal impact
The Titans did miss the presence of their regular captain Shubman Gill (down with muscle spasm) in the middle, especially with the bat. Still, Sai Sudharsan (73) had helped lay the platform for them, till Bishnoi (replacing Donovan Ferreira) turned it around for the Royals.
The leg-spinner’s wicket of Sudharsan was a tad fortunate one, but thereafter,
he gave little room to both Glenn Philips and Washington Sundar before dismissing Rahul Tewatia with the googly, his go-to delivery.
In favourable conditions, Bishnoi varied his pace to fox batters.
Calm & composed
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wasn’t at his destructive best, while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (55 off 36 balls) too departed after being well set.
The Royals seemed to be losing their way with three quick wickets following Jaiswal’s dismissal, but Dhruv Jurel (75 off 42 balls) ensured to deliver with his composure.
The keeper batter never panicked, not even after Riyan Parag and Shimron Hetmyer departed. He was rather focused on the boundaries and sixes whenever the ball was in his arc. If there was room and width, Jurel took no half-measures and made sure his execution was perfect.