Captain Hardik Pandya’s all-round heroics powered Gujarat Titans to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 points table as GT defeated Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs to register their fourth win of the season in Mumbai on Thursday.
Hardik scored an unbeaten 87 with the bat, ran out opposition skipper Sanju Samson with a sharp throw, and then picked up James Neesham’s wicket with the ball. Lockie Ferguson (3/23) and Yash Dayal (3/40) starred with the ball, and returned with three wickets each to derail Rajasthan’s chase after Jos Buttler smacked an entertaining fifty.
Buttler dazzles
Jos Buttler expressed his intentions by kickstarting Rajasthan’s chase in a dynamic fashion as he smashed Mohammed Shami for three back-to-back boundaries in the very first over after Gujarat Titans wasted a review off the first delivery. Buttler continued his assault on the debutant and hit Yash Dayal for two boundaries and a six before his fellow opener Devdutt Padikkal failed to open his account in the same over. Buttler went on to score a rapid 54 before getting castled by Lockie Ferguson.
Hardik leads
Captain Hardik Pandya led from the front and scored an entertaining 87* to guide Gujarat Titans to 192 for four after being put to bat by Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson. Hardik joined hands with Abhinav Manohar (43) to revive Gujarat after an early stutter as the duo stitched an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket before the skipper combined with David Miller to add 53 off 25 balls.
Hardik’s 52-ball knock was studded with eight fours and four sixes. Hardik took the attack to Kuldeep Sen as he hammered the RR pacer for three successive boundaries in the fifth over. He then fetched his first maximum in the seventh over, when he clobbered Riyan Parag over his head.
Manohar, Miller sizzle
The duo upped the ante when Manohar launched into inform Yuzvendra Chahal, hammering him for a four and maximum, a lofted inside-out drive over cover. The two then took on Kuldeep, hammering him for three boundaries in the 14th over, where Hardik also notched up his fifty, with a cut towards the backward point fence.
And in the next over, Pandya clobbered two successive maximums off seasoned spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who leaked 16 runs in the over. With the Titans reaching 130/3 in 15 overs, the stage was set for a big total.
Gujarat stutter
Both teams made changes to their playing XI on Thursday. Trent Boult, who bowled beautifully against Lucknow Super Giants to pick up 2 for 30 off his 4 overs, missed out because of a niggle and he was replaced by Jimmy Neesham.
Meanwhile, Gujarat Titans left out Sai Sudharsan as Vijay Shankar returned to the side. Darshan Nalkande, who conceded 22 runs in 2.1 overs in GT’s 8-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad, was dropped – Yash Dayal was given a debut.
RR would have immediately felt Trent Boult’s absence when Neesham was hit for three boundaries by Matthew Wade in the first over. However, Wade was run out in the next over. Earlier, Gujarat Titans were off to a poor start as they lost opener Matthew Wade (12) cheaply, courtesy of a direct hit by Rassie Van Der Dussen from cover. Gujarat were down to 15/2, as Vijay Shakar (2) also perished cheaply and then an in-form but reckless Shubman Gill (13) became Parag’s first victim after he was caught by Shimron Hetymar at the long-on fence.