Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs to reach the top of the IPL points table. Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya incredibly performed well in all the departments. Jos Butler’s efforts were insufficient.
Captain Hardik Pandya’s stormy innings hit a four for victory of Gujarat Titans. Captain Hardik Pandya (87 not out) helped Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs in the IPL 15 match played here on Thursday night. With this, Gujarat registered its fourth win this season. Royals captain Sanju Samson had chosen to field first after winning the toss and Gujarat took full advantage of this decision.
Gujarat Titans scored 192 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 20 overs by Hardik’s innings. In reply, the Royals team could score only 155 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 9 wickets. This is the second defeat for Rajasthan Royals in five matches.
The second half-century of the season
Hardik scored his second half-century this season. He scored an unbeaten 87 in 52 balls with eight fours and four sixes. Hardik added 86 runs for the fourth wicket with Abhinav Manohar (43) and 53 runs for the fifth wicket with David Miller (31).
Buttler could only show his strength
Only opener Jos Buttler (54) could show his power from the Royals. Captain Sanju Samson failed in the fourth match in a row. He scored 55 runs in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. But after that, he could only score 30, 8, 13, and 11 runs in this match.
Lockie Ferguson’s lethal bowling
Gujarat’s fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, while bowling lethally in this match, took the maximum three wickets for 23 runs. Yash Dayal also supported him well by taking three wickets for 40 runs. Captain Hardik and Mohammed Shami got one wicket each. Lockie also delivered the fastest delivery of the match at 150+ kmph.
Danger of ban For Rohit
Rohit Sharma is in trouble after Mumbai’s fifth defeat. Captain Rohit Sharma’s troubles have increased after Mumbai’s fifth consecutive defeat in this season. Captain Rohit has been fined 24 lakhs and other players six lakhs for slow over-rate in the last match. This is the second time this season. If the team makes this mistake for the third time, then captain Rohit can be banned for one match.
Batsmen lost their sweat against experienced fast bowler
In IPL, forgetting the failure of the last 3 years, pacer Umesh Yadav became the most stingy bowler. The last three seasons of IPL were very disappointing for veteran fast bowler Umesh Yadav. In the year 2020, he got a chance to play only two matches. Whereas in the year 2021 he could not play a single match. But Umesh was not disappointed by this failure, he improved his bowling and made a strong comeback in IPL 2022. Umesh Yadav has proved to be the most economical bowler so far this season and even veteran batsmen are losing their sweat in scoring runs on his balls. Umesh is also on a purple cap spree in the season.
Kolkata expressed confidence
Umesh was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 2 crore in the mega auction of IPL-15. Umesh may not have got a big amount but he only focused on his bowling. As a result, he has become the player to bowl the most 62 dot balls in 23 matches played so far in the IPL. Batsmen have to struggle hard to score runs on his balls.