Rajasthan Royals got off to an electrifying start at Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday, with Nitish Rana’s explosive 21-ball half-century powering them to 79/1 by the end of the powerplay. The veteran was in superb hitting form, smashing seven boundaries and four sixes in the first six overs.
While most of Rajasthan’s shots were clean, powerful hits that sailed out of the ground, there were a couple of streaky efforts, including a comical moment of misfielding from Matheesha Pathirana on the final ball of the third over, which gifted Rana four runs.
Samson had neatly glanced a back-of-a-length delivery from Khaleel Ahmed, which drifted onto his hips, sending the ball racing toward the gap at backward midwicket. Pathirana charged in from square-leg, determined to save his team runs, and in a desperate attempt, performed a sliding tackle worthy of Sergio Ramos.
However, the Kookaburra ball simply deflected off his legs and continued to trickle towards the boundary. Not to be outdone, Pathirana tried to redeem himself with a dramatic rotatory kick using his hand as leverage, but the ball rolled over the line for four, and the umpires signaled the boundary.
— david Miller (@MillerDavi20894) March 30, 2025
Twitter was thoroughly entertained by the spectacle and called for more of the same from the Sri Lankan quick, even if it meant conceding a few runs for CSK.