Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: First time as a captain in IPL 2026 for Yashasvi Jaiswal, and it ended in a crushing defeat. The dejection was pretty evident on the Rajasthan Royals stand-in skipper’s face after Rajasthan Royals suffered a heavy 77-run loss at the hands of Gujarat Titans at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday.“(How tough was it when GT got off to such a good start) I think we were just thinking to bowl in good areas and they were batting pretty well. So we were just thinking how we can cut down the boundaries or big shots. So I think it was pretty good from them,” Jaiswal said after the match.
Skipper Shubman Gill smashed a quick 84 while Sai Sudharsan made a fine 55 to guide Gujarat Titans to a commanding 77-run win over Rajasthan Royals.Gill and Sudharsan stitched together 118 runs for the opening wicket after being sent in to bat, powering GT to a massive 229 for 4. Towards the end, Washington Sundar provided the finishing touch with an unbeaten 37 off 20 balls.For Rajasthan Royals, right-arm medium pacer Brijesh Sharma (2/47) was the pick of the bowlers, while Yash Raj Punja (1/37) and Ravindra Jadeja took a wicket each.Defending the big total, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan starred with brilliant figures of 4/33, while Jason Holder (3/12) and Kagiso Rabada (2/33) also played key roles as RR were bundled out for 152 in 16.3 overs.“Nothing much (What went wrong tonight?). I think we are going to look what we can do better and just look for the next game, what we can do and learn from this game,” he said.Jaiswal also defended star pacer Jofra Archer, who had an off day. Archer, bowling the first over for RR, conceded 18 runs in an 11-ball spell.“No, it’s cricket (talking about Archer being off the radar today). We all know that there are some days where you are in, there are some days where you cannot bowl how you want to. But he’s been doing so well for us. So I think he’ll be coming back very strongly,” Jaiswal said.This was RR’s second consecutive defeat, and with this loss they have slipped to fifth in the points table. They now have 12 points from 11 matches, with 6 wins and 5 losses and a net run rate of +0.082.They will next face Delhi Capitals on May 17.
