Rashid Khan Praises Tushar Deshpande, Accepts Blame for Gujarat’s Loss in Nail-Biting Finish

Ahmedabad :

Rajasthan Royals defeated Gujarat Titans by six runs in the high-voltage clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the IPL 2026. The hosts seemed the favourites to get the job done but in the final two overs, Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande pulled off a heist, ensuring a thrilling win. Notably, in the final over, Gujarat needed 11 runs to win but Deshpande delivered perfect yorkers on the trot, allowing no space for Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada to hit any of the balls for a boundary.

However, he failed to hit the line and length in the penultimate ball, allowing Rashid to smack a six. Nevertheless, the Afghanistan international failed to time it as Archer picked up a comfortable catch. Reflecting upon that after the defeat, Rashid credited Deshpande but also highlighted his miss.

“Well, the discussion was clear, like, you know, we just need to hit one boundary. And I feel like if we get there, I think we don’t need much of the boundaries in that over. And I think Tushar bowled really well. He bowled some exceptional yorkers. We didn’t allow us to go on, but I feel that the one ball which he missed his line length, I should have picked that for six,” Rashid said in the post-match presentation.

Ravi Bishnoi adjudged POTM

Star spinner Ravi Bishnoi was adjudged the Player of the Match for his heroics in the middle. He dismantled Gujarat’s middle order, claiming four wickets, while conceding 41 runs in his four overs. Dhruv Jurel was also favourite for the POTM title, after the keeper-batter smacked 75 runs off 44 balls in the first innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal also scored a half-century after stitching a 70-run partnership with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. 

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

Gujarat Titans (Playing XI): Kumar Kushagra, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Glenn Phillips, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan (c), Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Also Read:

          </div>

function loadFacebookScript(){ !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’); fbq(‘init’, ‘529056027274737’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’); } window.addEventListener(‘load’, (event) => { setTimeout(function(){ loadFacebookScript(); }, 5000); });