IPL 2023: Rashid Khan stars as Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans register big win over Rajasthan Royals

Gujarat Titans defeated Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets as Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad caused the home side to collapse for just 118 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Friday at the Indian Premier League 2023 match on Friday.

Rajasthan Royals’ decision to bat after winning the toss backfired, as their batting succumbed to Rashid, who returned 4-0-14-3 to begin a collapse, and Noor, who recorded 3-0-25-2.

Gujarat Titans then needed only 13.5 overs to wrap up the chase. Shubman Gill (36) and Wriddhiman Saha (41*) stitched a fluent 71-run stand before the former was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the 10th over. Hardik Pandya showed signs off his old-self with his clean-hitting as he scored a quickfire 39* off 15 balls.

Rajasthan appeared to be in command until the fifth over of the innings, when they were 47 for one, but eventually, they fell without a fight, losing nine wickets for 71 runs and being bowled out in 17.5 overs.

While the spin duo shared five wickets between them, Joshua Little (1/24) and Mohammed Shami (1/27) were also economical and picked up a wicket each.

Hardik Pandya dismissed Jos Buttler (8) at after the batter struck two fours in a row in the second over. Sanju Samson (30) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (14) attempted to give RR a boost, but their 36-run second-wicket stand was ended in the final over of the powerplay. A horrible mix-up between Samson and Jaiswal caused the latter to depart.

The rest of the batting lineup produced a dismal scorecard.