GT to Second With Fourth Win: Gill, Sudharsan, Rashid Star

Opening carnage: Shubman Gill 84 off 44 balls 9x4, 3x6 + Sai Sudharsan 55 off 36 put on 118-run stand inside 11 overs. Powerplay: GT 82/0 in 6 overs, raced past 100 inside 9 overs. Key moment: Gill dropped on 54 by Shimron Hetmyer at deep mid-wicket off Jadeja – ball went for 6. Finish: Washington Sundar 37_ off 20 + Rahul Tewatia 14_ off 4 added 21 in final over to post GT’s season-best 229/4RR bowling mess: Jofra Archer 11-ball first over with 5 wides, finished 3-0-46-0. Twenty-eight overs into the contest in Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals (RR) were keeping pace with Gujarat Titans (GT). They were 86 for 3 in seven overs, chasing 230. Dhruv Jurel looked like he had excised his slow-batting demons. He was on 24 off 9 and ready to go bigger. Then, Rashid Khan spun one past Jurel's slog to peg back his stumps. It was the first of his four wickets. On a night of spin chokeholds by both RR and GT, Rashid's spell of 4 for 36 was the point of difference between both sides. Bowling: Rashid Magic Seals It RR start: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 36 off 16, Dhruv Jurel 24 off 10 took RR to 62/2 in 5 overs. Turning point: Rashid Khan 4-33 broke the chase. Dismissed Jurel bowled, then Donovan Ferreira next ball with sharp leg-breakTrapped Ravindra Jadeja lbw to finish with 3 bowled dismissals. Support: Jason Holder 3/12, Kagiso Rabada 2/33, Siraj 1/55RR collapse: From 62/2 to 152 all out in 16.3 overs. Jofra Archer took 11 deliveries to get through the first over of the match. It featured nine extras and was the longest opening over in the history of the tournament. By the end of it, Gill and Sai Sudharsan - without taking any big risks - had raced away to 18 for no loss. This was the theme of the powerplay: the opening pair kept getting balls on their pads or bouncers shooting way over their heads. They played most of their shots in the 'V' down the ground. By the end of the first six, they were just 18 runs away from their ninth 100-plus partnership, the second-best tally in the IPL, just behind Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. Fourth straight win for GT Points: Now 14 points, level with table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad, second on NRRP. layoff push: “Tightened grip on playoff spot” with massive NRR boost. RR slide: Slip to 5th, 5th defeat in last 6 games, “playoff place no longer secure” Despite their big start, Gill and Sai Sudharsan slowed down in characteristic fashion. Both of them reached their fifties off 30 balls. Yash Raj Punja (1 for 37) and Ravindra Jadeja (1 for 34) did not find much turn off the surface, but bowling in tandem through the middle overs, they cut off the risk-free boundary options for the opening pair. Captaincy: Riyan Parag out with hamstring, Jaiswal led on “Pink Promise night ”Bowling: No standout performer, Archer’s 11-ball over set tone Chase: Brief fireworks from Sooryavanshi & Jurel, but Rashid’s middle-overs spell “broke backbone” Bottom line: Clinical all-round show from GT. Gill & Sai’s 118-run opening blitz set up 229, then Rashid’s “vintage spell” dismantled RR to hand them a 77-run thrashing and fourth win on the bounce, lifting GT to 2nd. With Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal gone, the onus was on Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja - who clobbered six and four off his first two deliveries - to play against type and shift into fifth gear. But Rashid got the ball to jag and turn off a pitch like no other spinner on the night. He also bowled more legbreaks than googlies - a rarity for him - to keep the batters guessing. Gujarat Titans 229 for 4 (Gill 84, Sai Sudharsan 55, Brijesh 2-47) beat Rajasthan Royals 152 (Jadeja, 38, Rashid 4-33, Holder 3-12) by 77 runs