AHMEDABAD - Despite a half-century from West Indian batter Shimron Hetmyer, his Rajasthan Royals went down by 58 runs to Sherfane Rutherford and the Gujarat Titans in their Indian Premier League clash on Wednesday.
Sent in to bat, the Titans, on the back of 82 from opener Sai Sudharsan, posted a formidable 217 for six in their allotted 20 overs. The Titans did not get the best of starts, as they lost captain Shubman Gill for just two, with 14 runs on the board in the third over.
Sudharsan and England batsman Jos Buttler then took the attack to the Royals by posting an 80-run second wicket partnership before Buttler fell for 36. Sudharsan then found another useful partner in M Shahrukh Khan, as they put on 62 for the third wicket.
West Indian batter Sherfane Rutherford didn’t explode with the bat this time around, as he was the fourth wicket to fall in the 17th over for seven, with the score at 163.
By this time, Sudharsan had gotten his half-century and was eyeing a ton, but he fell in the 19th over after facing 53 balls and hitting eight fours and three sixes.
Rahul Tewatia ensured the Titans got over the 200 mark, following his uneabten knock of 24 off 12 balls.
In reply, the Royals were behind the eight ball as they lost two early wickets with just 12 runs on the board. Captain Sanju Samson steadied the innings with a defiant 41 from 28 balls. But, when he fell in the 13th over at 116 for five, the Royals were staring down their third defeat of the new campaign.
West Indian Shimron Hetmyer had other ideas, though, as he came in and blasted a quickfire 52 from 32 balls to give the Royals run chase some impetus.
After hitting four fours and three sixes, Hetmyer went for one big shot too many and was out caught off Prasidh Krishna, who picked up three wickets in the innings.
Hetmyer’s dismissal virtually sealed the end of the Royals’ innings, which fizzled out to 159 in 19.2 overs.
The fourth victory for the Titans sees them lead the IPL table with eight points from five games, while the Royal’s, who suffered their third defeat in five games, sit in seventh place on four points.
Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 217/6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 82, Shahrukh Khan 36, Jos Buttler) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 in 19.2 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 52; Prasidh Krishna 3/24, Sai Kishore 2/20) by 58 runs.
CMC
