Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara feels the 13th over in the run-chase of 178 against Gujarat Titans was the game changer at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad after they registered a three-wicket win.
RR skipper Sanju Samson smashed GT’s lead spinner Rashid Khan for a hat-trick of sixes in the 13th over and turned the match on its head. In fact, RR were reeling in the run-chase but that 20-run over changed the momentum in the visitors’ favor.
Samson went on to score a match-winning knock of 60 runs from 32 with the help of three fours and half-a-dozen sixes. Furthermore, Shimron Hetmyer added the finishing touches for the previous season’s runners-up as he scored an unbeaten knock of 56 runs from 26 balls.
“Not just you got us through the powerplay, but that Rashid Khan over and then how you kicked in from there, that was the game changer,” Sangakkara told Samson in the post-match team meeting.
“Their best bowler, some say the best T20 spinner in the world, was completely caught off guard. It just goes to show that when you are in the game, anything is possible.
“Whether it is Rashid Khan, Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan, It doesn’t matter when we’re in the game. We play the ball, not the man.”
Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel and Ravichandran Ashwin played crucial cameos as they scored 18 off 10 balls and 10 runs off 3 balls respectively. Hetmyer added 47 runs off just 20 balls with Dhruv Jurel.
On the other hand, Rashid Khan had a rare off day at work as he scalped two wickets but he was taken for 46 runs in his quota of four overs.
Rajasthan Royals will next face Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Wednesday.
