Deshpande’s final act ensures thrilling win for RR over GT 

Ahmedabad: Tushar Deshpande bowled a magnificent final over by landing six consecutive deliveries on either blockhole or wide yorker length in an exhibition of high-class bowling as Rajasthan Royals (RR) edged out Gujarat Titans (GT) by six runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) humdinger on Saturday, April 4.

This was Royals’ second successive win in the tournament, while the Ashish Nehra-coached GT team has now lost two matches in a row. 

Riding on half-centuries from Dhruv Jurel (75 off 42 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (55 off 36 balls ), Royals scored 210 for 6 in their 20 overs.

Despite Sai Sudharsan’s 73, which oozed class, GT were staring down the barrel at 161 for 7 before Kagiso Rabada (23 not out) and stand-in skipper Rashid Khan (24) took the team close to a win with 10 needed off the final over.

But Deshpande had other ideas as he started the final over with a wide but then was on target with three singles and a wide fuller delivery that Rashid conceded a dot. In the end, only four runs were scored and the Titans would feel that they let it slip big time after a solid opening stand.

With Shubman Gill absent due to spasms, Sai Sudharsan (73 off 44 balls) had a new partner in debutant Kumar Kushagra (18 off 14 balls) but it was the Tamil Nadu man who did bulk of the scoring in the 78-run opening stand. When it came to sheer elegance and grace, Sudharsan hardly has any peers among the new breed of T20 batters.

Even the sixes that he hit – three apart from nine boundaries – seemed like caressed through the orbit. For Kushagra, it was about playing the second fiddle. However once Sudharsan was snapped by Bishnoi with a half-tracker, suddenly, GT lost track with the leg-spinner tormenting them with altered length and variations.

From 107 for 1, suddenly, they were reeling at 133 for 5 and subsequently became 161 for 7 with all recognised batters back in the hut.

However, Rabada and Rashid had other ideas as they launched brutal yet swift counter-attack, which wasn’t enough in the end. 

Earlier, Jurel beautifully merged aggression and discretion in his 42-ball 75 to guide Rajasthan Royals to a challenging 210 for 6 after opting to bat.

In the RR innings, Jaiswal looked like getting back into the groove with a 55 off 36 balls after ‘Boy Wonder’ Sooryavanshi smashed 18-ball 31 in an opening stand of 70 in just 6.2 overs.

Jurel seemed settled in his new role as No. 3 and showed that there is a place for conventional shots and yet can strike at more than 150. The pick-up pull off Ashok Sharma after completing his fifty was a delight – a testimony to his strong core and good hands. He hit five maximums and an equal number of boundaries.

For the Gujarat Titans, Ashok Sharma (1/37 in 4 overs), in only his second IPL game, emerged as the ‘Next big pace hope’ having clocked 154.2 clicks and consistently bowling northwards of 145 kmph. But BCCI coaches would need to be careful, as there are stories of Mayank Yadav and Umran Malik to learn from.

Jurel’s knock was a throwback to the good old early days of IPL, where there was one person who would hold the innings together before throwing the kitchen sink at the opposition. A six off Rashid Khan over deep mid-wicket after dancing down the track was the highlight of his innings.

With no Shubman Gill in the playing eleven due to muscle spasms, Royals skipper Riyan Parag rightly decided to bat and the crack opening pair didn’t disappoint either.

Sooryavanshi-Jaiswal pair may still be pretty new, having come together last year, but a piece of statistic by Cricviz would indicate how dominant they have been.

Out of 113 pairs in IPL history with 500-plus runs together, Jaiswal and Suryavanshi stand out with a scoring rate of 12.04 runs per over and are third in the list behind Travis Head-Abhishek Sharma (12.57) and Sunil Narine-Phil Salt (12.46).

With the quartet of Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasish Krishna and Ashok all extracting extra bounce and pace off the surface, shot-making during the Powerplay overs became easy as batters could just use the pace.

The fearless Sooryavanshi started with a flurry of boundaries, including one off Rabada lofted over mid-off. The stand-out shot was a last-minute adjustment off a short ball from Ashok that he cut uppishly for a six.

Rashid dismissed Sooryavanshi, who played one shot too many, but Jurel-Jaiswal added another 56 for the second wicket.