Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured a thrilling 3-wicket win over defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad. Chasing a stiff 178, the Royals’ captain Sanju Samson led an incredible fightback with a top-scoring knock of 60. Shimron Hetmyer played an electrifying unbeaten knock of 56 off just 26 balls and guided his team to seal a crucial win. With this win, RR remains at the top of the points table with 8 points.

After opting to bowl first, RR had a good start as Trent Boult dismissed Wriddhiman Saha (4) in the very first over. Jos Butler then produced a brilliant effort to run out Sai Sudharsan (20) to make it 32/2. Shubman Gill and GT captain Hardik Pandya steadied their ship by adding 59 runs before Yuzvendra Chahal bagged Pandya (38).

Sandeep Sharma then picked up the important wicket of Gill (45) in the 16th over. But David Miller played a fine inning of 46 runs while Abhinav Manohar chipped in with a quickfire 27 and helped their side to reach a defendable total of 177/7 in 20 overs.

RR had a huge blow in their chase as Mohammed Shami and Pandya struck early to remove Yashavi Jaiswal (1) and Butler (0). Rashid Khan then dismissed Devdutt Padikkal who looked good at 26. However, Samson revived his side’s chase with a flurry of sixes. He alongside Hetmyer put up a 59-run stand in just 27 balls to keep RR in the hunt. Ravichandran Ashwin smashed a boundary and a six to take RR home with 4 balls to spare.