RR finished their IPL 2023 with 14 points in 14 matches.
RR had defeated Punjab Kings in Dharamshala in their final league match by 4 wickets to keep their hopes for IPL 2023 playoffs alive. RR, MI, and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were at the same points on the table and the Sanju Samson-led side needed SRH to defeat MI and Gujarat Titans to beat RCB.
This was after Lucknow Super Giants booked their spot in playoffs by beating Kolkata Knight Riders the other day.
SRH was put into bat first by MI captain Rohit Sharma and they put up 200/5 with openers Vivrant Sharma and Mayank Agarwal scoring 69 and 83 respectively.
As MI began their chase, Ishan Kishan made 14, but then Rohit Sharma made 56 and along with Cameron Green hammering the bowlers, took MI close to the target. Rohit fell for 56 in 37, but Green continued the assault.
With MI needing 50-plus runs, R Ashwin, who was watching the tie with interest, threw in the towel. He tweeted summing up RR’s IPL 2023 season and wished luck to the rest of the teams in the fray.
He tweeted: “It was a season with a lot of ups and downs with the @rajasthanroyals but not the one which we would have loved it to be. Good luck to all the teams that have gone into the playoffs and to those who are fighting for it tonight. ????????@gujarat_titans @ChennaiIPL @LucknowIPL @mipaltan @RCBTweets.”
The fans were intrigued by Ashwin’s tweet and reacted to the same, some asking him to keep the faith, while some agreed with him.
In the end, MI won the match by 8 wickets and 2 overs to spare, as Cameron Green made 100* in 46 balls.
Here are the tweets: