Our stylish southpaw Sai Sudharsan lit up our Gujaratno Gadh with a magnificent half-century, but it wasn’t enough as our Titans went down to Rajasthan Royals in a high-scoring thriller on Saturday, April 4.

Chasing a huge target of 211, Sai Su produced a batting masterclass of 73 off just 44 balls, before we lost wickets at important stages to suffer a heartbreaking defeat in our first home game of the season at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Earlier, Kagiso Rabada picked up two vital wickets, while Mohammed Siraj, Ashok Sharma, Prasidh Krishna and stand-in captain Rashid Khan chipped in with one scalp each to help us restrict the Royals to 210/6. 

Our spin wizard Rashid earlier stepped in to lead our Titans after skipper Shubman Gill missed the game due to a muscle spasm. Here’s how our first home game panned out in Ahmedabad:

Captain Rashid broke opening partnership 

At our Gujaratno Gadh, our bowlers were off to a challenging start as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 70 runs for the opening wicket. 

In the absence of Gill, captain Rashid led from the front after he provided us with the much-needed breakthrough as he removed Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (31) in the seventh over.

KG, Prasidh bagged crucial wickets

After losing Sooryavanshi, wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel and Jaiswal stitched a 56-run partnership for the Royals. Later, in the 13th over, our star pacer Rabada shattered Jaiswal’s stumps to end his 55-run knock.

Prasidh ‘Skiddy’ Krishna soon joined the party as he dismissed opposition skipper Riyan Parag (8) in the following over. 

Titans restricted Royals to 210

Our Titans continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals as our young pacer Ashok Sharma bagged the huge scalp of Shimron Hetmyer (18), courtesy of a stunning catch by our Miyan Siraj.

Rabada then claimed his second wicket of the night as he deceived Donovan Ferreira (1) to reduce the Royals to 166/5 in the 17th over.

In the final over, our bowling spearhead Siraj got the better of Jurel (75) to help us restrict the Royals to 210/6 in their allotted overs. 

Sai Su, Kushagra lit up Gujaratno Gadh

In reply, Sai Sudharsan and our debutant Kumar Kushagra got us off to a brilliant start. 

Sai Su slammed Jofra Archer for a six on the second ball and later hit a glorious boundary to accumulate 15 runs in the first over. 

At the other end, Kushagra showcased his class as he thumped an exquisite boundary off Archer.

Our opening pair smashed the Royals’ bowlers to all parts of the ground as we reached 56/0 in the first six overs. 

Sai Su slammed blitzkrieg fifty 

Meanwhile, Sai Su continued his swashbuckling knock as he clobbered Parag for a huge maximum to notch up his seventh fifty in Ahmedabad and his 13th IPL half-century overall.

However, our blistering 78-run opening partnership came to an end as Kushagra fell for 18 in the eighth over.

At the other end, Sudharsan took Ravindra Jadeja to the cleaners to put the pressure back on the bowlers. Unfortunately, Sudharsan’s magnificent knock ended in the 11th over. His incredible knock was laced with nine fours and three sixes. 

Not our day, we’ll bounce back stronger

Despite losing Sai Su, our flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler continued the onslaught as he hammered Tushar Deshpande for three impressive boundaries in the 12th over. 

However, we soon lost Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar and Buttler in quick succession.

Batting in the middle order, Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan kept us in the hunt with a couple of lusty boundaries, before they fell in the 15th over.

In the final few overs, captain Rashid (24) and KG (23) almost pulled off a brilliant run-chase with superb cameos, however, it wasn’t enough as we fell short by just six runs.

What next for the Titans?

Despite a narrow defeat, we have plenty of positives from our first home game of the season. After a nail-biter at Gujaratno Gadh, our Titans will look to quickly bounce back against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, April 8. 

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 210/6 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 75, Yashasvi Jaiswal 55; Kagiso Rabada 2/42) beat Gujarat Titans 204/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 73, Jos Buttler 26; Ravi Bishnoi 4/41) by 6 runs