IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals to lock horn with table topper Gujarat Titans

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], May 4 : Rajasthan Royals (RR) will take on defending champions and table toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) at their home venue of Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Friday.
If they win, Rajasthan can dethrone Gujarat from the top of the points table. RR has 10 points with five wins and four losses and are in the fourth position in the points table. GT has 12 points with six wins and three losses. However, Rajasthan has a better net run rate.
Both teams have been impressive in the tournament so far. They have strong playing XIs on paper and their players are stepping up in every match. However, RR lost their previous game against Mumbai Indians by six wickets after MI chased a massive total of 213 at Wankhede Stadium.
In that match, Yashasvi Jaiswal clinched his maiden IPL century. Still, the attacking knocks from MI's Suryakumar Yadav of 55 off 29 balls and supportive knocks from Cameron Green (44), Tim David (45*) off just 14 balls and Tilak Varma (29*) snatched a win from the Royals.
R Ashwin was the pick of the bowler for RR, he took two scalps. Sandeep Sharma and Trent Boult took one wicket each.
GT is also heading into the match after a loss against Delhi in a low-scoring match by five runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya's unbeaten 59 and Mohammed Shami's four-wicket haul could not guide the defending champions to a win as veteran Ishant Sharma held his nerves and defended 12 runs in the final over.
Ishant and Khaleel Ahmed picked two wickets apiece for Delhi.
In their last IPL 2023 match, RR won by three wickets in a close encounter.
For GT, Gill scored 45 off 34 balls and Miller smashed 46 runs in 30 balls while Abhinav Manohar played a quickfire knock of 27 runs in 17 balls. For RR, Sandeep Sharma bagged two while Trent Boult, Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal took a wicket each.
Chasing the target of 178, Sanju Samson's 60 off 32 balls and Shimron Hetmyer's 56* off 26 balls guided their team to win against the defending champions.
Meanwhile, RR and GT have faced each other four times, out of which Gujarat has won three and RR have won just one.
RR squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Jos Buttler, SV Samson(C), DC Jurel, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma, R Parag, KM Asif, NA Saini, D Ferreira, Murugan Ashwin, JE Root, Kunal Singh Rathore, Abdul Basith, AP Vasisht, KC Cariappa, OC McCoy, KR Sen, Kuldip Yadav, A Zampa
GT squad: Shubman Gill, HH Pandya(C), A Manohar, DA Miller, Vijay Shankar, R Tewatia, Wriddhiman Saha(wk), Rashid Khan, M Shami, MM Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Kane Williamson, J Little, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, Sai Sudharsan, KS Bharat, J Yadav, MS Wade, Urvil Patel, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Odean Smith, Shivam Mavi, DG Nalkande, PJ Sangwan, D Shanaka.