'Today was sort of a revenge' - Shimron Hetmyer on Rajasthan Royals clinching maiden win over Gujarat Titans

After facing a defeat at the hands of Gujarat Titans thrice in IPL 2022, Rajasthan Royals were finally able to outplay the Hardik Pandya-led side when the two teams clashed for the fourth time in the tournament’s history, on April 16 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The two sides first faced each other in the league stage of the IPL 2022, where the then debutants Gujarat defeated the inaugural champions.

They crossed swords again in the Qualifier 1, playing the first game of the playoffs, and GT again edged past Rajasthan and earned a direct entry to the finale. Rajasthan Royals crossed all barriers and eventually made it to the summit clash, thereby setting a third date against Gujarat. But to their misery, the Sanju Samson-led side faced their third defeat in a row as Gujarat clinched the IPL 2022 championship.

As the two sides locked horns for the fourth time in the IPL, and the first in the ongoing IPL 2023, the defending champions got a taste of their own medicine when the Men in Pink handed them a defeat in what went down as a nail-biting thriller at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Having lost three games in a row last year, skipper Sanju Samson led from the front this time and notched up a half-century, which was followed by Shimron Hetmyer’s blitzkrieg, who finished off the chase in style.

Rajasthan needed seven runs to win off the final over, when Hetmyer took two runs off the first delivery to complete his half-century. As the equation came down to five off the remaining five deliveries, Hetmyer hit a six over the wide midwicket region to seal a victory. His aggressive celebration proved how badly RR wanted to win the contest.

Difficult to win against these guys, they beat us thrice last year: Hetmyer

While receiving the Player of the Match award, Hetmyer said that the team finally managed to take ‘revenge’ over the defending champions.

“I don’t have any words. Difficult to win against these (GT) guys, they beat us thrice last year but today was sort of a revenge. I practice these situations, it helps when you practice with that mindset of knowing we are few wickets down and chasing 100 with 8 overs to go. I was actually pretty happy to be honest (on Noor bowling the final over). He bowled well throughout so the first ball all I was thinking about was getting that double and take it from there,” he said during the post-match presentation.