GT vs RR, IPL 2023 Match 23 Stats Review: Sanju Samson's captain's knock, RR's first win over GT and other stats

A captain's knock from Sanju Samson followed by ruthless power hitting from Shimron Hetmyer saw Rajasthan Royals (RR) register their first win over Gujarat Titans (GT) by a margin of three wickets in Match No. 23 of the Indian Premier League 2023

The coin spun in the visitors' favour and as they decided to field first, Trent Boult struck on the very third ball of the innings sending Wriddhiman Saha packing for four runs. Sai Sudharsan then joined Shubman Gill in the middle as the duo added 28 runs for the second wicket before a failed attempt to sneak a run in the fifth over cost Sai Sudharsan’s wicket, leaving GT stranded at 32/2 at the close of the fifth over.

However, Shubman Gill kept the scoreboard ticking by adding 59 runs off 33 balls along with skipper Hardik Pandya for the third wicket. Yuzvendra Chahal then broke the partnership as Hardik Pandya departed after scoring 28 runs off 19 deliveries. Soon, Shubman Gill departed after a well-made 45 off Sandeep Sharma's bowling.

Cameos from David Miller (46 from 30) and Abhinav Manohar (27 from 13) helped GT post a competitive total of 177/7 in 20 overs. For RR, Sandeep Sharma was the pick of bowlers for his spell of 2/25 in 4 overs.

Chasing 178, RR lost their in-form openers quickly courtesy of a lethal bowling performance from GT’s quicks as Jos Buttler registered his second duck in IPL. Devdutt Padikkal and Sanju Samson kept the chase going as the duo added 43 runs for the third wicket before Rashid Khan struck twice in two overs, sending Padikkal and Riyan Parag back to the hut in the course of 12 balls.

Shimron Hetmyer then joined Samson as the duo led the fightback with some serious power-hitting. They both went bonkers against Rashid Khan and Alzarri Joseph scoring 35 runs in 2 overs. Sanju Samson notched up his 19^th IPL fifty in the process. Noor Ahmad came in as an impact player and broke the crucial partnership by dismissing dangerous-looking Samson for 60 (32).

Hetmyer then took the reins from Samson with his ruthless hitting down the order, smashing boundaries for fun. Hetmyer finished the proceedings with a 25-ball fifty and along with valuable cameos from Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin, helped RR edge past GT by a margin of three wickets. 

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from the game between GT and RR:

1 - Sanju Samson became the first RR batter to complete 3000 runs in IPL.

2 - Jos Buttler registered a duck for just the second time in IPL. His previous duck came against PBKS on his debut way back in 2016.

1 - Rajasthan Royals registered their first win over GT in IPL.

2000 - Hardik Pandya completed 2000 runs in IPL.

6 - Hardik Pandya became the sixth player to achieve the feat of scoring 2000 runs and taking 50 wickets in IPL.

Players to smash 2000 runs and pick 50 wickets in IPL:

3874 runs, 92 wickets - Shane Watson

3412 runs, 69 wickets - Kieron pollard

2531 runs, 138 wickets - Ravindra Jadeja

2427 runs, 65 wickets - Jacques Kallis

2095 runs, 92 wickets - Andre Russell

2012 runs, 50 wickets - Hardik Pandya

50 - Devdutt Padikkal appeared in his 50^th IPL game.

2 - Gujarat Titans have now lost two consecutive games at their home ground.

26 - Rajasthan Royals scored 26/2 in the first six overs, which is the lowest powerplay score in IPL 2023. The previous lowest was 29/3, registered by Mumbai Indians against Royal Challengers Bangalore.