GT vs RR, IPL 2023 Highlights: Hetmyer, Samson lead incredible fightback as Royals beat Titans by 3 wickets

Ashwin flights it outside off, Gill reads it like a comic book, comes down the track and smashes a lofted drive over long-on. Significant rise in scoring rate since the end of the powerplay funnily enough. Gill on 27 off 16 and Pandya on 19 off 10.

Zampa sends the second ball of the seventh full and Pandya smashes it over long-on. Full again for the third and Pandya crashes him down the ground again. This time it goes along the ground for four.

That's both openers back in the hut for Gujarat Titans. Gill cracks Zampa back down the ground and the Australian puts a hand up to block the trajectory of the ball. The batter charges down the ground but Sudharsan is looking at Jos Buttler, to whom the ball went to while walking to the right to make space for Zampa. He is hence almost an entire second late to react to the run and fails to make his ground by inches. 

Sudharsan run out (Buttler/†Samson) 20 (19), GT 32/2 in 5 overs

Sudharsan is on 16 off 15, Gill on five off six. RR have kept a proper lid on this innings so far.

Length ball from Boult, Gill smacks it through covers for four. A cover drive, or cover slap, of the highest order. GT 24/1 in 3 overs. 

Back of a length from Sandeep Sharma for the third ball of the second, Sai Sudharsan slices it behind point.

Wow, how three RR players come out of that situation physically fine and Saha been dismissed will go down as one of the great wonders of nature.  Saha skies the third ball of the over, the ball goes straight up, moving just about halfway ahead of the pitch. Wicketkeeper Sanju Samson runs ahead, eyes on the ball, calling it his catch but it is so loud that probably even he couldn't hear himself. Hetmyer charges in from square leg, Dhruv Jurel charges in from point and all three converge at that point of the pitch where the ball is hurtling towards the ground. Somehow, they are perfectly positioned to not hurt each other despite colliding, the ball bounces off Samson's gloves and Boult who was standing closeby watching it all unfold sees the ball politely hovering towards him. He completes the catch. Wowsers.

Saha c & b Boult 4 (3), Gujarat Titans 5/1 in 0.3 overs

Trent Boult is bowling the first over. Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill open the innings for GT. 

RR: Devdutt Padikkal, Murugan Ashwin, Donavon Ferreira, Navdeep Saini, Joe Root

GT: Joshua Little, Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmad, Srikar Bharat, Dasun Shanaka

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal

Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma

“It has been a belter so far. It's a good toss to lose, don't mind batting or bowling first. For us, it's important how we use it (impact player). We'll use it only when required. Forced change, Vijay Shankar isn't playing. Abhinav comes in for him. It's my home state, lot of love, everyone comes here and supports us, exciting.”

“We are looking to bowl. Boult is coming in place of Jason Holder. Padikkal is playing when we bat, I am not sure. We'll keep learning about it (impact sub). I'd like to score some runs today.”

Sanju Samson has won the toss and Rajasthan Royals will bowl first. 

Square boundaries 66 m both side, straight 74 m. It's the same pitch that was used for GT v KKR. This pitch suits the home team who are now seam-heavy. Bit of grass, which has freshness.

Was the one that decided the title winners last season. Hardik Pandya led the way with figures of 3/17 as GT restricted RR to 130/9. Then he scored 34 off 30 while Shubman Gill and David Miller took them over the line. Gill was unbeaten on 45 off 43 while Miller smashed 32 off 19 to get Gujarat Titans their first IPL title in their debut season itself.

Unlike GT though, RR have been ruthless in the way they finished off matches, which is why they are sitting at the top of the table. They battered Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in their opening game, then romped past Delhi Capitals by 57 runs. Then they defended a target of 176 against Chennai Super Kings by keeping out a sensational late charge from Ravindra Jadeja and the legendary MS Dhoni.

Hardik Pandya spoke about how he would have loved it if Gujarat Titans did not allow their last match to go into the last over. They have been a successful chasing side, losing only once in 12 matches batting second but nine of those victories have come in the final over, including two this season.

Rashid Khan has dismissed Jos Buttler five times in the IPL. He has also dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer twice each. There is hence a very good chance that GT could use the spinner in the powerplay, even in the first two overs as well. 

Well so far it was David Warner, Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler chasing Shikhar Dhawan but Venkatesh Iyer has jumped past all of them to take that Orange Cap. He was out on 104 off 51, the first KKR player to score a century since... wait for it... Brendon McCullum in the first ever IPL match back in 2008 against Royal Challengers Bangalore!!! His tally for the season has now jumped up to 234

Gujarat Titans won the first match that was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium but the second they lost in the most freakish way imaginable. It was their game all the way, until Rinku Singh smashed five back to back sixes in the last over to help KKR snatch it under their noses.

Venkatesh Iyer was flat on the ground early in his innings against MI today for KKR. He responded by going on to play an utter blinder of an innings and is now set to become the second batter to score a century this season after Harry Brook. He is currently batting on 97 off 45 so he is definitely set to get to the century faster than Brook did. 

Trent Boult missed the match against Super Kings due to a niggle but is expected to be back for this game. It will be interesting to see how RR use him today. 

Hardik Pandya needs 16 more runs to reach 2000 runs in the IPL. He already has 50 wickets in the tournament and so the GT captain will become just the sixth player and the fastest to do a double of 2000-plus runs and fifty-plus wickets in the IPL

Sanju Samson needs 54 more runs to become the first Rajasthan Royals player to reach the landmark of 3000 runs in the IPL.