Striking the ball with brute force, a fearless Sanju Samson simply upped the ante when Rajasthan Royals (RR) were struggling big time in their recently concluded encounter with defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday. Runners-up in the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), former champions RR led by Samson squared off against Hardik Pandya’s GT in a rematch of last year’s final at the famous Narendra Modi Stadium.
They might be brothers in arms at the Team India camp, but superstars Samson and Pandya had an intense staredown during RR’s chase of the challenging 178-run target set by the hosts at Ahmedabad. A huffing and puffing Pandya had an animated interaction with Samson when the RR skipper was leading the batting charge of the Men In Pink. The video of the lesser-known incident has also garnered the attention of netizens on social media.
When comeback man Mohit Sharma leaked just 4 runs in the 12th over, RR had only posted 66 with a loss of four wickets. Roping in Noor Ahmed as the Impact Player, GT skipper Pandya then assigned Rashid Khan to bowl the 13th over. Successfully defending the first delivery, Samson launched an all-out attack on Rashid in a game-changing over. Stationed at long-off, David Miller came up with a brilliant attempt to deny Samson a boundary.
However, his fielding heroics went in vain as the Proteas star failed to pluck a blinder. Samson then hammered Rashid for another maximum to leave Pandya and Co. dumbfounded. Completing a hat trick of sixes, Samson took the aerial route again and got the maximum results. Samson, who was batting on 29 off 22 balls during Rashid’s spell, reached 48 in 27 deliveries at the end of the over.
Rashid leaked 46 runs in 4 overs against the Royals. The star spinner bagged the crucial wickets of Devdutt Padikkal and Riyan Parag before the Samson storm at Ahmedabad. Power-hitter Samson smashed 60 off 32 balls while Shimron Hetmyer remained unbeaten on 56 off 26 balls. Riding on Samson and Hetmyer’s half-centuries, former champions RR outclassed GT by 3 wickets in match No.23 of the IPL 2023. West Indies southpaw Hetmyer was named the Player of the Match for his batting heroics. Samson’s RR have retained the top spot on the IPL 2023 points table with a thrilling win over Gujarat.
