After Wednesday, there are no more unbeaten teams in the IPL 2024. Rajasthan Royals, after four successive wins, failed to cross the line in their fifth match against Gujarat Titans. The match was a thriller and went on till the last ball. GT’s Rashid Khan hit a four on the last ball of the 20th over as his team chased down a 197-run target against RR in Jaipur. This is the second highest total chased down in Jaipur in IPL.
After the game, Royals captain Sanju Samson was asked, “Where was the game lost?”
“I think the last ball of the game,” replied Sanju Samson.
“Really!” the commentator replied, as he sounded quite surprised
Then Samson elaborated: “Very hard to speak at the moment. Hardest job in the tournament when a captain loses the game and has to tell where the game was lost. When the emotions come down I’ll be able to tell clearly. Have to give credit to the Gujarat Titans. That’s the beauty of this tournament.
“Will have to learn and move on. While I was batting I thought something around 180 would’ve been a fighting score. 196 was a winning score I thought. With no dew, our bowling lineup should’ve done it. It wasn’t easy to go hard at the start of the innings. 197 at Jaipur, without dew, we’ll take it any day.”
Talking about the game, Gujarat Titans came back from nowhere to pull off a thrilling three-wicket win against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday, ending the hosts’ unbeaten run in the tournament.
Sanju Samson (68 not out off 38) and Riyan Parag (76 off 48) continued their red hot form in the competition with disdainful half-centuries as Rajasthan Roylals reached 196 for three after being put in to bat.
Shubman Gill (72 off 44) fought a lonely battle for the major part of Titans’ innings before Rahul Tewatia (22 off 11) and Rashid Khan pulled the rabbit out of the hat in a last-ball finish.
Titans needed as much as 73 runs off the last 30 balls but managed to bring the equation down to 15 off the last six.
Avesh Khan, who has proved his worth in the death overs, was again tasked with bowling the 20th over. In the end, it came down to two off one ball and Rashid’s rasping cut for four sealed the deal for Titans.
With PTI inputs
