The statement performance by Gujarat Titans against Rajasthan Royals ensured their place at the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 points table with four back-to-back victories. An all-round batting effort led by Sai Sudharsan once again followed by another high-caliber outing in terms of fielding, which made Shubman Gill’s team defeat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 58 runs in Match No. 23 of IPL 2025 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The player of the match, Sudharsan’s 82(53) and effective short innings from Jos Buttler and Shahrukh Khan, among others, helped GT reach 217/6 in 20 overs. The home team bowled out RR for 159 with the six bowlers Gill used, including the pace spearhead, Prasidh Krishna (3-24).
Following a toss win, RR captain Sanju Samson opted to field first, and pacer Jofra Archer wasted little time getting down to business. He bowled really fast for the first two overs, hitting speeds over 150 km/h a few times. He also threw a quick bouncer at his fellow countryman, Jos Buttler, and broke the stumps of GT captain Shubman Gill with a delivery clocked at 147.7 kmph.
Having negotiated Archer early, a very consistent Sai Sudharsan continued to enjoy this season. Sudharsan shifted gears to six and two fours off Tushar Deshpande in the fifth over and raced to 39*(22) to have GT end the powerplay at 56/1.
With a flurry of boundaries against his older team, Jos Buttler burst onto the scene. Sudharsan covered his third fifty of the season in 32 deliveries, but the 80-run stand was reviewed by RR successfully as Buttler (36 off 25) was trapped in front by Maheesh Theekshana in the same over, leaving GT at 94/2 after 10 overs.
Sudharsan kept the pace while Shahrukh Khan took over from Buttler, smashing a powerful 36 off 20 balls, and GT galloped to 163 for 4 in the 16th over.
Sandeep Sharma got Sherfane Rutherford out quickly, who scored 7 runs off 3 balls, but GT kept going strong. The last four overs alarmingly had runs headed by Sudharsan’s highly impressive 82(53) with cameos from Rahul Tewatia (24 off 12) and Rashid Khan (12 off 4), as GT ended with a mighty 217/6.
There was no shortage of excitement at the start of RR’s chase. Arshad Khan and Mohd. Siraj-the leading wicket-taker in the powerplay at that moment of the season-struck early to send back Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Rana, leaving RR at 12/2.
Then RR had a brilliant counter-attack from captain Sanju Samson and his deputy Riyan Parag, with a couple of beautiful six-hitting shots before taking the total score to 57 for 2 after 6 overs for RR. But unfortunately, they lost a couple of wickets at the worst moment, with Parag getting out for 26 off 14 and Dhruv Jurel getting out for only 5 runs. At the end of the 10th over, they had scored only 85 runs but lost 4 wickets, and needed 133 more runs to win.
Another flourishing partnership, this time between Samson and Shimron Hetmyer, was ended by Samson (41 from 28) trying to heft a short one to short third-man from Prasidh Krishna. Rashid Khan, though, got a second wicket to leave RR at 127 for 6 with just 91 still required from the last six overs. The required rate just kept going up, while wickets kept tumbling, with Hetmyer (52 from 32) putting up a lone fight.
GT won with just four balls remaining, having been superbly led by Krishna’s 3-24 and Rashid Khan’s 2-37 with the ball.
Scorecard, GT vs RR, 23rd Match IPL 2025, Apr 09 2025
Gujarat Titans 217/6
Sai Sudharsan 82 (53)
M Shahrukh Khan 36 (20)
Jos Buttler 36 (25)
Prasidh Krishna 3/24
Sai Kishore 2/20
Rashid Khan 2/37
Rajasthan Royals 159
Shimron Hetmyer 52 (32)
Sanju Samson 41 (28)
Riyan Parag 26 (14)
Tushar Deshpande 2/53
Maheesh Theekshana 2/54
Jofra Archer 1/30
