New Delhi, April 29 Gujarat Titans batter Sai Sudharsan reflected on a night of missed chances and tactical missteps that led to his team’s crushing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.
Despite posting a formidable 209 on the board, GT were left stunned by a record-breaking assault from 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal as RR chased down the target with 25 balls to spare.
"When we finished batting, we felt it was par or ten runs over par, is what our feeling was. But the way they started and batted showed us that we were wrong," Sudharsan said.
The Royals' opening pair punished GT heavily. Jaiswal went on to score an unbeaten 70 off 40 balls, but it was Suryavanshi who stole the show with a sensational 101 off just 38 deliveries. Their 166-run partnership in 11.5 overs broke the backbone of GT’s bowling unit and left them scrambling for answers.
Sudharsan, who himself scored 39 in 30 balls to take the Orange Cap back from Virat Kohli, acknowledged that GT’s bowlers failed to adapt. “No credit taken away from Vaibhav, the way he batted was tremendous and fantastic to watch, even though we were fielding. But at the same time, we could have reacted well. The way they started the powerplay was brilliant, but we could have reacted well and had better plans," he said.
"Maybe the lengths, and we could have been aware of the wicket, how it reacted to the ball, which they bowled in the first innings. Maybe we could have taken cues from that and executed that. Maybe we could have gone wider, we could have not bowled into his arc, maybe we could have done that and things would have been different," Sudarshan added.
GT will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 2 in Ahmedabad.
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