'Badla pura hua final ki haar ka' - Fans react to Rajasthan Royal's 3-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in a nail-biting contest

RR vs GT (Image credit: Twitter)

In a nail-biting contest between the last Indian Premier League season's finalists, Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans, the former claimed a four-wicket victory in the final over. Chasing a target of 178 runs, the Royals cruised past the defending champions with four balls to spare at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

RR won the toss and chose to bowl first, and Trent Boult, as usual, got them off to a dream start by removing Wriddhiman Saha on the third delivery of the first over. Shubman Gill and skipper Hardik Pandya had a fine partnership following Sai Sudarshan's run-out. Gill (45 off 34) fell short of his fifty after being dismissed by Sandeep Sharma, and Hardik also left after a handy cameo of 28 runs off 19 balls.

However, it was veteran batter David Miller and Abhinav Manohar's quick-fire innings that helped them to post a solid 177-run total. The South African, who was dropped by Zampa early in his innings, went on to score 46 runs, while Manohar smashed 27 runs off 13 balls. Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the bowlers of RR as he took two wickets and conceded only 25 runs in his four overs.

Sanju Samson's counter-attack brought RR back into the game

In reply, the Royals got off to a miserable start as they lost star openers Jos Buttler and Yashaswi Jaiswal within three overs. Hardik Pandya drew the first blood by dismissing the youngster in the second over, and the momentum was carried forward by Mohammed Shami, who knocked Buttler for a 5-ball duck.

RR appeared to be on the verge of collapsing, but a magnificent partnership between skipper Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal gave them new life and dragged them back into the game. Padikkal was the anchor, scoring 26 runs off 25 balls, while Samson was aggressive, scoring 60 runs off 32 balls with six maximums and three fours.

However, it was Shimron Hetmyer who delivered the knockout blow with a match-winning score of 56 off just 26 balls. The West Indies power hitter finished the match in style with a six off the second ball of the last over. With this victory, RR held first place in the points standings with 8 points. Meanwhile, GT maintains third place with 6 points.

Here's how fans reacted to RR's win: 

Take a bow, Shimron Hetmyer. 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/fm9pLT8XuH

— Rahul Sharma (@CricFnatic) April 16, 2023

Best match

Samson batting after 11th over
Rashid gone for sixes
Shimron Carribean style batting
Ashwin hitting 4&6

— . (@Hakunamatata474) April 16, 2023

Royals 👑 waata game! 💗

— Suhas Kc (@baasu_2016) April 16, 2023

Best Team Of This Season Rajasthan Royals What A Team 🔥😍

— Deepak Jain 🇮🇳 (@Dipsdj007) April 16, 2023

Badla pura hua final ki haar ka ❤️🥵

— Yash. (@iYashTweets) April 16, 2023

But the artist was Sanju samson

— duke durairaj (@duke_durairaj) April 16, 2023

Imagine not watching IPL, what an entertaining league 🔥💯

— Haque 🇧🇩 (@midtownndriverr) April 16, 2023

Best one
They were no where close, no where
Absoulutely stunning performance from Sanju amd Hettie

— Siddhant Jain (@Siddhan27690820) April 16, 2023

Rajasthan Royals 53 for 3 after 10 overs while chasing 178 runs.

Then smashed 126 runs in the next 9.2 overs.

What a comeback win - One of the Greatest in IPL history.

— Sairam Anupoju ℁ (@SairamAnupoju4) April 16, 2023