The Rajasthan Royals defeated the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans for the first time in the tournament’s history on April 16 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Royals had previously lost three times to the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. The two teams met for the first time in the league stage of the IPL 2022, where Gujarat defeated the defending champions. GT again prevailed over Rajasthan in the first playoff game, Qualifier 1, and earned a direct berth into the championship match.
The Rajasthan Royals overcame all obstacles and ultimately reached the summit match, setting up a third date against Gujarat. However, as Gujarat won the IPL 2022 championship, the Sanju Samson-led team suffered its third straight defeat. As the two teams met for the fourth time in the IPL and the first time in the ongoing IPL 2023, the Men in Pink awarded the defending champions a defeat in a nail-biting thriller at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. After losing three straight games the year before, captain Sanju Samson set an excellent example by scoring a half-century, and Shimron Hetmyer blitzkrieg finished the chase in grand fashion.
Rajasthan needed seven runs from the final over to win, and Shimron Hetmyer took two runs off the first delivery of the final over to reach fifty. Shimron Hetmyer hit a six over the wide midwicket region, with just five runs needed off the final five deliveries to secure the victory. His aggressive celebration demonstrated how desperately RR desired to win the competition.
They defeated us three times last year, making it difficult to defeat them. Shimron Hetmyer
Hetmyer stated, while accepting the Player of the Match award, that the team had successfully gotten “revenge” on the defending champions.
“I am at a loss for words. It is difficult to defeat these (GT) men, as they defeated us three times in the past year, but today was a form of payback. I rehearse these scenarios, and it helps when I practice with the knowledge that we are a few wickets down and chasing 100 with eight overs remaining. Honestly, I was quite pleased with Noor pitching the final over. During the post-match presentation, he stated, “He bowled well throughout the match, so my only thought on the first ball was to get a double and go from there.”
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