The IPL 2023 fixture between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals saw the GT opener Shubman Gill hurt himself after dropping Devdutt Padikkal's catch. After a great batting performance, the defending champions got off to a brilliant start in the second innings.
Gujarat fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya hit the ground running with some incredible swing and pace and reduced RR to a score of 4-2 in 2.5 overs. Then for Rajasthan, captain Sanju Samson and Padikkal started the rebuild, before the Karnataka batter edged one to the slips. Here's Gill went for the catch, but only managed to get his fingers to it before hurting himself. After the fifth over, Gill was escorted out of the field.
Watch the video here:
This dropped catch eventually turned costly for the Titans as Paddikal built a platform allowing Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer to go berserk smashing sixes all over the ground. These big-hitting knocks propelled the Royals to a stellar three-wicket win.
Addressing the loss, GT captain Hardik Pandya spoke about giving the final over to debutant Noor Ahmad, who failed to defend seven runs against Hetmyer. He said, "To be honest no (didn't expect the loss after the powerplay), but that's the beauty about this game. The game is never over till it's over, another lesson for us.
"(Noor Ahmad) He's someone who's difficult to pick, got us the big breakthrough but the other bowlers didn't execute. Body is good, everything is good. It's a very long tournament. A lot of matches left, we still need to play a lot of group cricket even if we had won today."
