CHENNAI: Skipper Sanju Samson, along with Riyan Parag (76), led from the front with an unbeaten 68 from 38 balls as Rajasthan Royals posted 196/3 in 20 overs against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday.
Put into bat first after a delayed start, Rajasthan got off to a flier with Yashasvi Jaiswal getting some runs off the bat. The youngster picked boundaries off Umesh Yadav and Spencer Johnson, racing to 20 off 17 balls. That is when a short of length delivery and an attempted scoop went wrong for Jaiswal as he was caught by Matthew Wade.
Although Jos Buttler fell in the next over to Rashid Khan, Samson kept the innings going with consecutive boundaries off Umesh. Over the next few overs, Samson and Parag played out Rashid and Noor Ahmed with caution. Parag broke free with a tonk off Noor into the stands. He then followed it up with a late dab against Rashid to up the ante. Few more slog sweeps followed as Parag got to his half-century in 34 balls.
Meanwhile, Samson, too, joined the party as he hit Mohit Sharma over extra cover. Against Johnson, Samson, once again, hit the pacer over extra-cover and followed it up with a slick flick into the stands. The concern for Titans was how the duo played out Rashid without giving any further wickets as the Afghan finished with 1/18 in his four overs.
When Mohit came back, Parag pulled off a helicopter shot on the first ball while Samson launched him down the ground in the last. The skipper followed it up with a lap shot off Johnson but Parag got out shortly after to Mohit for 76 runs from 48 balls.
That did not stop the onslaught and Shimron Hetmyer started with a four down the ground. He started the final over with a six over extra-cover and Samson hit one over long-on getting them into the 190s. Umesh kept tight through the rest of the over as RR finished with 196/3 in 20 overs.