Mullanpur | Rajasthan Royals' skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bat against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 of Indian Premier League here on Friday.
GT made one change and brought back R Sai Kishore, while RR are playing an unchanged XI.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Donovan Ferreira, Dasun Shanaka, Ravindra Jadeja, Jogra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Yash Raj Punja.
Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi played some astonishing shots in a brilliantly paced 96 off 47 balls before Donovan Ferreira smashed Rashid Khan for four sixes in the 20th over to push Rajasthan Royals to 214 for six against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League here on Friday.
There was a bigger crowd in attendance than on Wednesday night, and the majority of them turned up to watch the 15-year-old go about his belligerent business.
They got more than their money's worth with Sooryavanshi continuing to boss the best bowlers around, including Kagiso Rabada and Jason Holder on this occasion.
Having lost Yashavi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel inside the second over, Sooryavanshi needed to adapt on a used surface where Mohammed Siraj, Rabada and Prasidh Krishna came with a clear plan: bowl back of a length into the body and throw in the odd bouncer to contain Sooryavanshi.
With the same pitch picked for the second game in a row, the ball did not come on to the bat as nicely as it did in the Eliminator.
Sooryavanshi was not able to time the ball early on with the bowlers not giving him anything to free his arms. Despite the challenges thrown at him, Sooryavanshi was still able to play awe-inducing shots with the best one being a straight six off a 153 kmph back of length delivery from Rabada.
Promoted to number four considering the situation, Ravindra Jadeja (45 not out off 35) played his part perfectly by going after the pacers, particularly Krishna, who bowled too short in his opening over. Struggling with a tennis elbow, Jadeja got retired hurt after the eighth over before returning to support Ferreria in the death overs (38 not out off 11).
Sooryavanshi also had luck going his way as he was dropped by Sai Sudharshan on 46. However, he went on to complete his sixth fifty of the tournament and made GT pay by going on the offensive in the middle overs.
After dominating Rabada despite being hit on the helmet by the South African, Sooryavanshi played a couple of audacious forehands off Jason Holder, who again was impressive in the middle overs.
A well deserved century was there for the taking like it was on Wednesday night, but Sooryavanshi was holed out in third man for the second game in a row, off a short ball from Rabada.
GT were on course to limit Royals under 200 but the decision to hand the ball to Rashid in the final over did not pay off. On a forgettable night, Ferreira picked him for a barrage of sixes for a potentially game-changing 27-run over.
Following is the scoreboard of the Indian Premier League Qualifier 2 between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals here on Friday:
RR innings:
Yashasvi Jaiswal c Prasidh b Siraj 1
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi c Prasidh b Rabada 96
Dhruv Jurel c Gill b Rabada 7
Ravindra Jadeja not out 45
Riyan Parag c Rabada b Holder 11
Dasun Shanaka c Buttler b Holder 3
Jofra Archer c Buttler b Prasidh 7
Donovan Ferreira not out 38
Extras: 6 (w-6)
Total: 214/6 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-9, 3-101, 4-109, 5-118, 6-172
Bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-41-1, Kagiso Rabada 4-0-35-2, Prasidh Krishna 4-0-42-1, Washington Sundar 2-0-23-0, Jason Holder 4-0-27-2, Rashid Khan 2-0-45-0.