Another final over thriller and it is the Rajasthan Royals who have come out on the winning side. The Gujarat Titans started off brilliantly with the ball but was definitely 10-15 runs short of a par score and that eventually, RR chased it down with 4 deliveries to spare. We have a lot of cricketing action tomorrow as well. Kee following Sportskeeda for all the latest news. So up until the next time, it's good bye and goodnight from myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) and my fellow commentator Karthik Raj. 

Shimron Hetmyer (Player of the Match): I don't know actually. It was a kind of revenge after losing against them all three times last year. Just practice it early, I have always got that in the back of my mind that if wickets are lost how can I programme my mind. I was actually pretty happy t be honest seeing the spinner bowling the final over. That was basically all I was thinking and it worked out tonight. 

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): I think when yu play some quality opposition on a quality wicket you expect this kind of matches. Very happy to compete and happy to finish on the winning side. Of course it was important to rotate the bowlers. They were going hard at our spinners. It was very important that going and restricting them to 177 was exceptional. With thestart we had, it was important to know how good the wicket is. We knew how good their new ball bowlers were. The way Zampa came in, it was all about matching up with the opponents. Zampa was a good match up for Miller and we almost got him. He don't like easy situations, we like putting him in such situations because he usually wins us such situations.

Devdutt Padikkal: It was definitely tense. But we believed that we could chase this down. We knew that we had to try and keep the scorecard ticking. We can't take it deep all the time. It was moving around a lot during the first few overs, so we had to be circumspect and when the ball was in our area, had to go after it. Really grateful to have such a talent in the side. Hopefully, he can continue to win us games. He is always the one leading the celebrations!

Hardik Pandya: To be honest, no but that's the beauty to the game. The game is never over and that was the message to the boys too. (About Noor Ahmad) He is someone who is difficult to pick but I won't be too harsh on him. The other bowlers didn't execute, that's the fact. The body is good. It's a very long tournament. All these losses remind you that you are still not over the other side. We would have still had to play good cricket even if we won this game. I felt short, we did lack a little, should have gone harder and targeted a 200-run total. Thought we were about ten short while watching from the outside

Rajasthan Royals won by 3 wickets

Gujarat Titans 177/7 in 20 overs

David Miller 46(30) | Shubman Gill 45(34)
Sandeep Sharma 2/25(4) | Adam Zampa 1/32(4)

Rajasthan Royals 179/7 in 19.2 overs

Sanju Samson 60(32) | Shimron Hetmyer 56*(26)
Mohammed Shami 3/25(4) | Rashid Khan 2/46(4)


That is one heck of an innings from Shimron Hetmyer. Along with Sanju Samson, the duo has won them the game from a hopeless situation. This also proves the importance of Hetmyer as the finisher in this Rajasthan team. He has lived up to the expectations so far and the Royals finally get one past the Titans. They lost all their three games against GT in the previous edition but they have gone one better already in 2023. A great game yet again and the Titans will need to ponder on their bowling towards the end. 

The Rajasthan Royals got off to the worst possible start, losing their two openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler inside the 3rd over. It was incredible new ball bowling from Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya and put them on the backfoot straightaway. From there on, it was Devdutt Padikkal and Sanju Samson who tried to steady the ship. The stylish left-hander played some delightful shots before perishing to Rashid Khan. 

Riyan Parag's struggles continued as he fell for yet another low score but Samson found an able ally in Shimron Hetmyer who looked in complete command of proceedings right from the word go. Samson was hitting them big and smashed Rashid Khan for a hat-trick of sixes. He was eventually dismissed by the impact sub Noor Ahmad but he had provided a platform for the likes of Hetmyer and Jurel to seal the deal. 

 Dhruv Jurel then came out with a positive frame of mind and scored a quickfire 18 off 10 deliveries. Ravichandran Ashwin almost sealed it for them with a four and a six of the penultimate over but the drama continued as he was dismissed very next ball. Noor Ahmad was handed over the ball for the final over and Hetmyer smashed him for a six over deep midwicket to win it for the Royals. 

19.2 Noor Ahmad to Shimron Hetmyer, HETMYER FINISHES IT OFF IN STYLE! Dragged short, Hetmyer rocks back and pulls it over wide long-on for a maximum. RR have pulled off a heist with four balls to spare!

Exceptional running between the wickets from Hetmyer and he completes the couple quite comfortably in the end. 

19.1 Noor Ahmad to Shimron Hetmyer, length delivery outside-off, Hetmyer cuts it behind point and gets back for the second run!

Can you believe it? The debutant Noor Ahmad has been given the final over. 

That over has tilted the scales severely in favor of the chasing team. Ravichandran Ashwin turned it around for a four and a six before perishing at backward point. 

18.6 Mohamad Shami to Trent Boult, full and angling in, Boult moves across and swings hard but he doesn't connect. No run