Batting first, Rajasthan Royals were obviously up against the Gujarat Titans. But as it turns out, the RR outfit had a greater nemesis to take care of. Hardik Pandya - The captain and the bowler.
Pandya was genius with his decision making and absolutely fantastic with the ball in hand. Whenever Rajasthan Royals looked like breaking free, whenever it looked like they needed to up the ante, the RR batters came up against Rashid Khan.
The spin-master bowled 4 overs and gave away just 18 runs at a magnificent economy of 4.20. The passage of play where Hardik and Rashid bowled in tandem sucked the life out of RR's innings.
Hardik Pandya was on fire with the ball in hand. In his quota of 4 overs, the allrounder gave away just 17 runs and took three crucial wickets. The wicket list includes Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, and Shimron Hetmyer. That's some list and it's fair to say that Pandya's spell broke the back of RR's batting line-up.
At the 15th over mark, when both Pandya and Rashid were done with their quota of overs, Hardik brought in another spinner - Sai Kishore, who has been really difficult to get away this season for most batters.
Whenever Rajasthan Royals tried to stage a comeback, Pandya had a trump card up his sleeve. Whether it was him, Rashid, Ferguson, or Sai Kishore, he just didn't give RR a chance.
Fair to say, Hardik Pandya, the captain proved to be RR's worst nemesis.
Gujarat Titans Playing XI
Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Matthew Wade, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Obed McCoy, Yuzvendra Chahal
