GT vs RR | IPL 2023: Josh Buttler broke his own record and Hetmyer Shine in a thriller against Gujarat Titans

In the 23rd match of the IPL 2023, which happened at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, Rajasthan Royals beat Gujarat Titans (Captain Hardik Pandya) with 3 wickets in the final over of the game, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson played a captain’s knock and Shimron Hetmyer gave a perfect ending to the game which was once thought to be in the hands of Gujarat titans as they got some crucial wickets in the beginning of the second innings of the match, but Sanju Samson and Hetmyer showed their class and helped their grabbing their 4th win in this season so far.

Josh buttler broke his own record:

Josh Buttler is one of the batters in the Rajasthan Royals team who is consistent in making runs for his team even in the last season of the IPL, IPL 2022. Josh Buttler was the Orange Cap holder as he made 863 runs in that season, but another thing worth noticing about him is that he never got out in the IPL without scoring a single run in the past 7 years. Before that, he got out on a duck in his debut match against Rising Pune Supergiants while playing for Mumbai Indians, and this time, while chasing a score of 178 runs, he was trying to open his account by playing a ramp shot in the 3rd over against Mohammad Shami, and that’s where Shami hit the off stump perfectly, giving Josh Buttler another duck.

Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer’s destructive knocks:

Sanju Samson came to the crease after the dismissal of Josh Buttler, and just after coming to the crease, he showed the spectators why he is a special batter by opening his account by hitting a boundary in the 5th ball he faced. There was a brief partnership between Devdutt Padikkal, who played some beautiful shots but became a prey of Rashid Khan’s spin, and later he took the wicket of Ryan Parag as well. When Shimron Hetmyer joined Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan Royals were 55-4 with 10 overs remaining, and then the Ahmedabad crowd saw some cricket.

Sanju Samson hit the bowlers all over the ground and hit some great shots; in the 11th over, he hit Rashid Khan for three consecutive sixes, but later, after making his half-century, he gave his wicket (after making 60 runs in 32 balls) to the debutant Noor Ahmad, who substituted Shubhman Gill as an impact player.

Shimron Hetmyer played his best innings so far in the IPL 2023 and remained not out, making 56 runs in just 26 balls. Post-match, he said a few words about his inning.

I don’t have any words. Difficult to win against these guys, they beat us thrice last year but today was sort of a revenge. I practice these situations, it helps when you practice with that mindset of knowing we are few wickets down and chasing 100 with 8 overs to go. (On Noor Ahmed bowling the last over) I was actually pretty happy to be honest, he bowled well throughout so the first ball all I was thinking about was getting that double and take it from there.

Shimron Hetmyer after winning the match.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson praised Shimron Hetmyer’s batting and said some words about him after winning the match.

When you play quality opponents on a quality wicket, you get such games. Very happy to compete in such a game and come out on top. It was important to rotate our bowlers, they were playing some quality cricket and we had to respect that. The whole team came up well today and we could restrict them to around 170. The start we had, it shows how good a wicket this was. The new ball the quality of swing bowling was good and we had to respect that. But today Zampa coming was a way to match-up with the opponents. He was the match-up for Miller and almost got the wicket, but the catch was dropped. (On Hetmyer) He doesn’t like easy situations, we like putting him in such situations because he usually wins us such situations.

Sanju Samson Post-match.

With that win, Rajasthan Royals moved to the top of the points table with 4 wins out of the 5 matches they played so far, and if Sanju Samson continues playing like this, other teams need to be a bit more careful.

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