Gujarat Titans (GT) snatched glory from jaws of defeat. Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered their IPL 2024 opening loss. The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur witnessed this clash on Wednesday, April 10.
Asked to bat first, RR were in trouble early. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler departed in powerplay. However, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag rebuilt admirably with a 130-run stand. Parag scored a brilliant 76. Samson’s unbeaten 68 powered RR to a formidable 196 total.
In response, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan scored 64 runs for the first wicket. The GT skipper stood tall and batted for more than 15 overs, scoring a superb 44-ball 72. However, the Rajasthan bowlers maintained control by collecting wickets on a regular basis.
Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan’s quick-fire connection flipped the game upside down. Both finishers struck with a strike rate of 200 or higher, and GT won the match on the final ball of the run chase.
On that subject, here are three milestones achieved in the just completed RR versus GT game.
3. Umesh Yadav now has the joint second-most wickets in powerplay in IPL history
In the absence of Mohammed Shami, GT has delegated new ball duties to another seasoned bowler, Umesh Yadav. On Wednesday, the 36-year-old removed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the fifth over of the first innings, bringing his IPL 2024 total to seven wickets.
Umesh secured two special achievements. He entered an exclusive club, becoming the fifth Indian bowler to reach 200 T20 wickets, courtesy of dismissing Jaiswal.
Additionally, Umesh Yadav now jointly holds the second-highest wickets in powerplay overs in IPL history. In 130 matches, the right-arm pacer has claimed 57 wickets, matching Deepak Chahar’s record.
However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar remains the undisputed leader, having captured 67 wickets during powerplay overs.
2. Rashid Khan now has the joint-most POTM awards in IPL since 2017
Rashid Khan at just 25 he has left a mark in IPL annals. The Afghan magician baffles with ball. But wait – he packs a punch with the bat too. He piles on quick runs these days. A talent encompassing all spheres.
He also gave an excellent performance for GT in Jaipur. He began with a tidy spell of 1/18, leaking runs at a 4.5 economy rate.
The batting display in Rashid’s second innings was phenomenal. He hit a blistering 24 off 11 balls. This performance earned him the Player of the Match award, making it his 12th such recognition since his IPL debut in 2017.
No other player has won more POTM awards than Rashid during this period. Both KL Rahul and Jos Buttler have also claimed 12 awards since 2017, tying Rashid’s remarkable achievement.
1. Shubman Gill broke Virat Kohli’s record in IPL cricket
Shubman Gill played a fine captain’s knock against Rajasthan. He scored 72 runs off 44 balls, at a strike rate of 163.64. During this match-winning knock, Gill reached 3,000 IPL runs.
Interestingly, he’s now the youngest player to achieve this milestone, aged 24 years and 215 days. Gill has broken Virat Kohli’s record, who did it at 26 years and 186 days. In terms of innings taken, Gill is the second-fastest Indian after KL Rahul (75 innings), reaching the landmark in his 94th IPL innings.
