Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara feels captain Sanju Samson‘s three sixes on the trot against Gujarat Titans premier leg-spinner Rashid Khan proved to be the game changer during their successful run chase in the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad. Samson (60 off 32 balls) hit three successive sixes off Rashid in the 13th over of RR’s chase of 178 to bring down the asking rate. The Royals eventually overhauled the target with four balls to spare on Sunday, with Shimron Hetmyer smashing unbeaten 56 off just 26 balls down the order.

“Not just you got us through the powerplay, but that Rashid Khan over and then how you kicked on from there, that was the game changer. Their best bowler, some say the best T20 spinner in the world, was completely caught off the guard,” said Sangakkara to Samson in a post-match video uploaded on the Royals’ social media accounts.

Play the ball, not the man! pic.twitter.com/C2CvL25mor

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 16, 2023

Samson and Hetmyer added a crucial stand of 59 runs off 27 balls to set up the run chase. Hetmyer then added 47 runs off 20 deliveries with Dhruv Jurel (18 off 10 balls) to complete the chase.

“It just goes to show that when you are in the game, anything is possible. Whether it is Rashid Khan, Shane Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan, it doesn’t matter when we’re in the game. We play the ball, not the man. Again, brilliantly done,” said Sangakkara, himself a batting legend and a former Sri Lanka captain.

With the win, the Royals have gone top of the IPL 2023 standings with 4 wins in 5 matches. On the other hand, Gujarat are placed third in the points table after their second successive loss at home.

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