GT vs RR

Sai Sudharsan (Player of the Match, Gujarat Titans): I play this tournament with momentum. It is always a joy to contribute and win the game. The wicket was slightly seaming a bit, made use of the second half of the powerplay, and with wickets in hand, it played well. There is more awareness about what we have to do when we lose an early wicket. If we consolidate and create a platform, they can do well in the last 5 overs. I try to improve my awareness and skills; wherever I am lacking, I take note of it and improve. I am working on my basics, which helps me become a versatile batter

Shubman Gill (captain, Gujarat Titans): A good total on the board. The ball was nipping around a bit in the first 3-4 overs and the way Sai and Jos batted, it was very good. We will take 220 on any day of the week, with fast bowlers doing a great job. Everyone is chipping in. If everyone wants to be the player of the match, it is a great headache to have. Very pleased with the bowlers we have. They make my job easy, with the guys wanting to take wickets and contribute. Everyone is very nice in the team

Prasidh Krishna: Absolutely the work that we put in as a team is showing up. It gets easier for me as the bowlers earlier are doing the job. Ohh yeah there was some extra bounce in the wicket so I thought of making use of the surface. Well I think it's to do with the pitch. The communication is kept all through the game and try to do whatever is working on that day. Honestly it doesn't feel like that somebody is not picking a wicket. T20 cricket is all about contributing, all in all the bowlers are doing the job and everybody's wicket column is feeling up. We were lucky as there wasn't any dew today.

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): Yeah it was 15-20 extra. They also batted really well. A couple of extra sixes we conceded. Whenever we wanted to carry on, we kept losing wickets at wrong intervals. When I was batting with Hetti the ball was coming onto the bat nicely and when I was dismissed, I felt it was the match. Jofra started brilliantly but in the middle overs we couldn't quite execute properly. We planned something and the bowlers did something else. We need to discuss on that. When you lose games, we feel if we had batted. It was a really good wicket to chase. We don't want to be a team who can only defend totals, we also want to chase well.

11:25 pm IST: Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals by 58 runs

Shimron Hetmyer: 52(32b) | Prasidh Krishna: 3/24 (4 overs)
Sanju Samson: 41(28b) | Rashid Khan: 2/37 (4 overs)

What a game for the Titans. They haven't looked behind since their loss in the opening game and have been on top of their game. As for the Royals, they will have to step up their chasing game and look to ensure that they can gun down totals that are more than 200.

Rajasthan Royal's chase had two hiccups when they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Rana early in the chase. It seemed like a good partnership was brewing between Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag, with the duo playing some eye-catching shots, but then a controversial turn of events saw Riyan Parag being dismissed and then, soon after, Dhruv Jurel. 

While Sanju Samson stayed in the middle, he and Shimron Hetmyer put together 47 runs. The pair played some exquisite shots and looked like they were going to blaze away with the game, but none of that came to reality with Samson being dismissed meekly. The real blow was struck when Shubham Dubey, RR's last recognised batter in the XI, was dismissed cheaply. From there on, Hetmyer batted out of his skin but had no partners at the other end. In the end, Hetmyer also lost his wicket as RR slumped to a heavy defeat.

It was a very good and improved effort from the GT bowlers. Mohammed Siraj, Arshad Khan, and Kulwant Khejroliya all picked up one wicket each. Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan picked up two wickets each, with Rashid having a personal redemption of sorts, striking for the first time after the season opener. The star of the show was Prasidh Krishna, who picked up three wickets, with two coming in the same over - one of them being the big one of Shimron Hetmyer.

Let's go down to hear what the captains have to say after the game

19.2 Sai Kishore to Maheesh Theekshana, WICKET! Theekshana comes down the track and tries to launch it down the ground, was a flighted delivery and Theekshana didn't get any timing on that, more of a slice down the ground from the bottom half of the bat, the long-off fielder comes rushing in and completes the catch. A big win for GT by 58 runs. 

Rajasthan need 60 runs in the last 6 deliveries. RR will be looking to survive for the duration of the last six balls. Here's Sai Kishore [2-0-19-1] to end the innings

18.6 Mohammed Siraj to Sandeep Sharma, Sandeep makes some room and taps away the good-length delivery following him, towards the mid-on region for a single.