Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced off against Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans (GT) in the 23rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Wednesday, April 9.
Team Rajasthan Royals (RR) lost the IPL 2025 match by 58 runs against Team Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Also Read: Watch: Shimron Hetmyer harms himself with brutal punch after getting out in GT vs RR clash
It was still chaseable but my wicket changed the game – Sanju Samson
Opting to bowl first in the match, Rajasthan Royals conceded 217 runs and picked up 6 wickets. Jofra Archer removed Shubman Gill early before Sai Sudharsan joined forces with Jos Buttler to trouble them. Other than Archer, Tushar Deshpande, and Maheesh Theekshana bagged two wickets each while Sandeep Sharma got one wicket.
Chasing the target, RR lost two early wickets before Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag provided some stability. Shimron Hetmyer also came up with a half-century but RR were bowled out for 159 in 19.2 overs.
Speaking after the match, Sanju Samson criticized his bowling unit for giving away 15-20 extra runs and blamed himself for the loss, saying his wicket changed the game. He said:
“Around 15-20 runs too many in the bowling. Whenever we wanted to carry the momentum we lost wickets, when me and Hetmyer were batting it was still chaseable but my wicket changed the game.”
The way we bowled at the death, we need to look at it – Sanju Samson
The Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson further expressed his disappointment over the death bowling performance of his team and said:
“There was some purchase, the way Jofra bowled and picked Gill’s wicket.. But the way we bowled at the death, we need to look at it in the meeting tomorrow and come back better.”
Sanju Samson further talked about their toss decision and said that they want to respect the conditions on the offer. He said:
“When you lose games we also think should we have chased or batted first, we were expecting these conditions, this was a really good wicket, we want to respect the conditions and want to be a team who can win games while chasing.”
How did RR perform in the previous IPL match against GT?
Rajasthan Royals put in a good all-round performance in their previous clash against Gujarat Titans in Jaipur but suffered a three-wicket defeat on the final ball.
After being sent in to bat, RR posted an amazing total of 196/3 on the board. The innings was held together by a sensational 68* from Sanju Samson and a brilliant 76 from Riyan Parag.
The pair added 130 runs for the third wicket, lifting Royals from 42/2 after early dismissals of Yashasvi Jaiswal (24) and Jos Buttler (8) inside the powerplay.
With 196 on the board, RR were in control for large parts of the second innings. Kuldeep Sen was the standout as he bagged a 3-wicket haul, removing Sai Sudharsan, Matthew Wade, and Abhinav Manohar in quick succession.
The other bowlers also looked quite good and took the match to a situation where GT needed 40 off the final 15 balls. However, RR couldn’t close the match as Avesh Khan, tasked with defending 15 in the last over, couldn’t handle the pressure and Rashid Khan hit the final delivery for four to hand RR a defeat.
Source link
