Rename Jaipur as Gowtham city for a day: Twitter goes berserk as Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians in IPL 2018

Krishnappa Gowtham produced a blinder of a knock after Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes smartly negotiated a slow track as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a nail-biting three-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match, here tonight.

The pitch was not conducive for stroke-making but Samson (52) and Stokes (40 off 27) added 72 runs for the third wicket to push their side close to the finish line and the hosts eventually crossed it with two balls to spare.

Gowtham conjured up an unbeaten 11-ball 33-run knock under pressure, hitting two sixes and four fours to seal a thrilling win for his side.

It was not a big target on board as the hosts chased 168 but the wicket had slowed down considerably and required a lot of patience to score runs.

Samson was in control of his innings but Jasprit Bumrah (2/28) dismissed him and Jos Buttler in successive balls in the 17th over to raise his side's hopes. When Samson got out, Royals required 43 runs from 22 balls.

It became 28 from 12 after Gowtham found a six and a four off Mustafizur Rehman. The Karnataka batsman in company of Jofra Archer found scored 18 runs from Bumrah's next over and needed 10 from the last for a thrilling win.

Hardik Pandya was given the ball and removed Archer in the first ball but Gowtham steered the next ball for a four in the third-man region and finished off the match in the fourth ball with a gigantic six.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to the arrival of a new hero, with an obvious number of Batman puns thrown in:  

#RRvMI
Gotham gave us Batman.
Gowtham gave us Batsman.

— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) April 22, 2018

Rajasthan is the hero Gowtham deserves. Or maybe the other way round.

— Abhishek Mukherjee (@ovshake42) April 22, 2018

Krishnappa Gowtham, take a bow son. Take a bow! What a performance.

— Gappistan Radio (@GappistanRadio) April 22, 2018

Needed 38 off 14 balls .. 5 wkts down .. & my boys win it with 2 balls to spare .. !!!!! Go on @rajasthanroyals #ipl2018 #Gowtham

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 22, 2018

RENAME JAIPUR TO GOWTHAM CITY FOR A DAY #RRvMI

— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) April 22, 2018

So the real mystery about Gowtham wasn’t his bowling! #RRvMI

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 22, 2018

this is what I like most about #IPL : people like Krishnappa Gowtham languishing in the anonymity of domestic cricket for six-seven years... with their India dreams almost over at the age of 30 get a chance to shine on a big stage. must be a huge moment for these guys. #RRvMI

— Rohit Pradhan (@Retributions) April 22, 2018

Mahela sends message to Rohit. Rohit sends message to Hardik. Gowtham says, 'you fellows keep discussing tactics, I'm going to smack the ball for six anyway'

— Sidvee (@sidvee) April 22, 2018

Got to feel for MI. That was an absolute blinder from Gowtham. #Ipl2018

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 22, 2018

Stunning knock by Gowtham. Who would've thought RR would win?! 4th time Mumbai lose in 20th over this IPL. Rohit has lots to ponder over

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 22, 2018

So the real mystery about Gowtham wasn’t his bowling! #RRvMI

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 22, 2018

K Gowtham , what a blinder that was. Paisa vasool . This was a much needed victory and @rajasthanroyals have won in style. Heartbreak once again for the Mumbai Indians #RRvMI

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 22, 2018